The Pakistani Taliban recruited and trained a suicide bomber, then sold him to the Haqqani network to carry out an attack in Afghanistan, but he was arrested before pulling off the plan, an official with Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) said Monday.
The accusation comes amid a growing war of words between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with each side blaming the other for instability and attacks, including cross-border bombardments. Last week Pakistan complained that the Afghan government and NATO were not doing anything to prevent the Taliban from crossing into tribal agencies in the east.
The Afghan NDS source, who did not want to be named for security reasons, said Afghan authorities arrested a man trying to commit a suicide attack in the Jaji Maidan district of Paktia Province in eastern Afghanistan. The bomber, identified as Sheer Hassan Khanjar, is from Miran Shah, Pakistan, and was recruited by Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud, the official said.
After three years of training in how to carry out a suicide attack, the would-be bomber was sold to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the NDS source said. Sirajuddin Haqqani is a leader of the Haqqani network, which operates on both sides of the Pakistani-Afghan border. Afghanistan officials believe the Haqqani network was behind last week's deadly siege on a Kabul hotel.
Sheer Hassan, the alleged would-be suicide bomber, told Afghan officials that someone working for Mehsud sold him and others to the Haqqani network.
Pakistan army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said he had no information about claims the Haqqani network may be buying Pakistani suicide bombers from Mehsud and the Pakistani Taliban.
Abbas said the Pakistani government has long acknowledged that militants move back and forth along the border, and Pakistan is doing its part to stop it. "It's difficult to stop militants crossing the border in that region but it's the responsibility of both sides to stop it," Abbas said. "We have more than 900 check posts along the border and that's more than they have on the other side."
Tensions between the two nations have shown no sign of waning despite Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to Islamabad last month.
Journalist Fazel Reshad Wardak and CNN's Nick Paton Walsh and Reza Sayah contributed to this report.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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What an investment opportunity and equally appealing career field.
This is the reason all people of good faith must stand up to these savages,
@Phil
Its hard to say whether the Bible, the Quran, Karl Marx's Das Kapital, or Mao Tse Tung's little red book has killed the most
in terms of innocent people. What isn't hard to dispute is that any ideology in the hands of murderous, racist, egotistical
"leaders" like Pharaohs, Popes, Kings, Party Chairmen, Presidents, or tribal warlords will get a lot of innocent people dead. My own guess at whose book has killed the most would be Karl Marx's or Mao's.
Whoops. Sorry 'bout this. My comment was meant as response to ToniBaloney's "...Bible has cost more innocent lives than anyone can ever count."
Political Fanatics are MUCH worse than religious fanatics and have caused many more deaths. Getting worked up over some thieving, lying politician (from ANY party anywhere) is cause for commitment to the nut house.
So they treat EVERYONE like cattle, to be bought and sold. I thought they only did that with women. Since the bombers were going to die anyway, they figured they would make a few bucks from their efforts. I guess glory and honor for Allah wasn't enough.
Human trafficking is just another revinue source for terror groups
How do you train for three years and then fail? How hard can it be?
You have to understand, they long ago used up all the 'normal' bombers and now all they can get are people with mental illness, mental handicaps or drug addicts. Those are not the sharpest tools in the shed and it takes a while to teach them to hit the red button to go boom. Just a few weeks ago a trainer in Pakistan was killed because he told he student to hit the red button on the vest and the student said 'like this' on a live vest.
@AD, cool story bro! =D
Allah said be a hooker and let the Taliban be your pimp.
I thought they did it for Alah.....now there is a price tag.....very sick people
May God have mercy on all the victims and the brainwashed. Suicide for keeping the honor or to accomplish tasks has been viewed as a virtue in the Eastern cultures until Christianity taught us otherwise. America, please provide Muslims Bibles in their own languages before you decline further.
WHAT?! Where do you get your facts from? I'm a member of one of those "Eastern" cultures you speak of and a Buddhist... pretty sure Buddha never taught suicide as a virtue. Prove me wrong if you can... otherwise STFU!
What a dumb thing to say. Christians always think they're better, wiser and more ethical. The Bible has cost more innocent lives than anyone can ever count.
That is true. The bible has killed more people in the name of that imaginary character "god".
Odessa is indeed a dummy...