Kabul:
Afghan security forces have detained five insurgents with ten tonnes of explosives they planned to use in launching attacks in crowded areas of the capital Kabul, an official said on Saturday.
The explosives, hidden in the back of a truck carrying potatoes, were intercepted in Kabul just two days before a coordinated Taliban attack in the capital and surrounding provinces on Sunday left around 50 dead.
"If the explosives had been used, it could have caused large scale bloodshed," Shafiqullah Tahiri, a spokesman for the Afghan intelligence service, told reporters in Kabul.
Three of those detained are Pakistani nationals and two are Afghans, he said adding that the men had bought the explosives in neighbouring Pakistan.
Kabul was hit by a wave of attacks in three areas Sunday, with embassies and foreign military bases coming under fire in what the Taliban said was the start of its spring offensive.
The attacks were one of the biggest assaults on the capital in 10 years of war in terms of their spread and coordination.
In September last year Taliban attacks targeting locations including the US embassy and headquarters of foreign troops in Kabul killed at least 14 during a 19-hour siege.
And in August, nine people were killed when suicide bombers attacked the British Council cultural centre.
The explosives, hidden in the back of a truck carrying potatoes, were intercepted in Kabul just two days before a coordinated Taliban attack in the capital and surrounding provinces on Sunday left around 50 dead.
"If the explosives had been used, it could have caused large scale bloodshed," Shafiqullah Tahiri, a spokesman for the Afghan intelligence service, told reporters in Kabul.
Three of those detained are Pakistani nationals and two are Afghans, he said adding that the men had bought the explosives in neighbouring Pakistan.
Kabul was hit by a wave of attacks in three areas Sunday, with embassies and foreign military bases coming under fire in what the Taliban said was the start of its spring offensive.
The attacks were one of the biggest assaults on the capital in 10 years of war in terms of their spread and coordination.
In September last year Taliban attacks targeting locations including the US embassy and headquarters of foreign troops in Kabul killed at least 14 during a 19-hour siege.
And in August, nine people were killed when suicide bombers attacked the British Council cultural centre.
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