NEW DELHI, Sep 9: Afghanistan First Vice President Amrullah Saleh had a providential escape in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack in Kabul on Wednesday morning that left three of his bodyguards injured, and several bystanders killed or maimed.
The former intelligence officer was the target of the terror attack, believed to be the handiwork of the Haqqani network, two days after he raised the issue of Durand Line and talked about Peshawar as summer capital of Islamic Republic.
The attack on Saleh, a former Northern Alliance leader, comes on the death anniversary of fellow Tajik leader Ahmad Shah Massoud who was assassinated two days before the erstwhile World Trade Centre twin towers went down in the US.
According to reports reaching here, the device was placed under a culvert over which Saleh’s cavalcade was passing on his way to office. The IED was so powerful that gas cylinders in nearby shops exploded due to concussion. Unconfirmed reports said at least 15 people were killed and 50 others were injured in the attack. Saleh, intelligence reports confirmed, was “safe.”
In a video message released after the attack, Saleh said the attack took place at 7.30 A.M. when he was on his way to work. The place where the suicide attack took place was narrow, he said, thanking the swift action of the security men present there. The former intelligence officer has survived several assassination attempts in the past including one on his office last year that killed 20 people.
The attack on Saleh came at a time when the ultra-conservative Sunni Pashtun outfit Taliban was planning to hold intra-Afghan negotiations in Qatar with the support of the United States. While the decision of the US to withdraw after nearly two decades of active involvement in Afghanistan was well received all around, its decision to foist the Taliban on the political and constitutional system by unilateral moves which were required to be honoured and accommodated by Kabul was causing much concern all around the region.
Saleh had said in a tweet on Monday that “No Afghan politician of national stature can overlook the issue of Durand Line. It will condemn him or her in life & after life. It is an issue which needs discussions & resolution. Expecting us to gift it for free is un-realistic. Peshawar used to be the winter capital of Afghanistan,” he said.
According to diplomats based in Kabul and New Delhi, the needle of suspicion for the attack on Saleh was towards the Haqqani network as the Zadran tribe, which is affiliated to the global terrorist group, has a hold on Kabul city with the perpetrators of attack this morning based in Pakistan. Sirajjudin Haqqani, head of the Haqqani network, is deputy leader and sword arm of Taliban.
(Manas Dasgupta)