Afghan Intelligence Agency Arrests Haqqani Militants Who Plotted Kabul Guest House Attack

Afghanistan's intelligence agency has arrested a group of militants from the Haqqani network who plotted a terror attack on a guesthouse in Kabul last month. The attack killed 14 people -- four of them were Indians.

The arrested militants confessed that the attack on the Park Palace Guesthouse was plotted by the Haqqani network commander Qari Abdullah, who is based in Pakistan's Peshawar, Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security said today.

One of the suspects was identified as Abdul Wakil, who was working for a non-governmental agency called Madera, the Khaama Press reported, citing the statement. The other suspect was identified as Ghulam Aziz, who was appointed to carry out a suicide attack.

"NGO worker Abdul Wakil helped Qari Abdullah plot the attack by preparing a fake USAID ID card for Ghulam Aziz who then visited the Park Palace guest house in Shahr-e-Naw area and prepared a sketch of the guest house for the attack," the statement said.

The attack was finally carried out by another militant identified as Idris, who was deployed from Peshawar, it added. Three gunmen stormed the guesthouse and started firing on May 13 night. All the attackers were killed in the siege that lasted around seven hours.

Four Indians, two Pakistanis and one American were among 14 people killed in the attack.

Soon after, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's special envoy for good governance Ahmad Zia Massoud said the militants attacked the guest house thinking Indian Ambassador Amar Sinha was present in the compound.