KABUL, 12 February 2004 — The deputy intelligence director of troubled Khost province was shot dead yesterday by a suspected Taleban guerrilla who later blew himself up, an official said, in an incident which underlines continuing instability in southeastern Afghanistan.
A spokesman for the ousted regime claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the intelligence director was targeted because he had given information to US forces and was formerly a member of an Afghan communist party.
The south and southeast of Afghanistan is the former stronghold of the Taleban and remnants of the regime and their Al-Qaeda allies are active in the region. United States-led coalition forces in these provinces come under regular attack and ambushes and kidnappings of foreigners have occurred in the region in recent months.
Khost military division commander Khial Baz Khan corrected earlier reports that deputy intelligence director Mohammad Isa had been killed by the suicide blast, saying he was shot dead and that the assailant had then detonated explosives strapped to his body as he tried to escape.
“The deputy director was on his way to his office when a suicide bomber approached him and opened fire on his vehicle,” Khan told AFP. “Once he was shot the bomber tried to escape but the driver and the bodyguards chased him and when he felt he would be arrested... he detonated the explosives strapped to his body, killing himself.
“I would still call it a suicide attack because he had explosives strapped to his body and a Kalashnikov and he was ready to carry out his suicide attack.
“Since it was early morning and not very crowded he managed to use the weapon instead of blowing himself up but finally he killed himself - that’s why I would call it a suicide attack.”
Khan, speaking via satellite phone from the scene, said an investigation into the incident had begun. The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) private news service said Isa was hit by five bullets and died on the spot.
This is the third suicide attack in the past month in Afghanistan. In separate attacks on Jan. 27 and 28 suicide bombers targeted International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops in Kabul, killing one British and one Canadian soldier and an Afghan civilian and wounding more than a dozen others. The Taleban claimed responsibility for both attacks and said more were to come.
A self-described spokesman for the ousted Taleban regime claimed responsibility for the Khost attack minutes after it occurred.
“We claim responsibility for the suicide attack involving the deputy intelligence director of Khost province, Mohammed Isa,” the spokesman, who calls himself Mohammed Saiful Adel, told AFP.
“We targeted him because he was in close contact with Americans, providing them with intelligence information.”
