Afghan Security Forces Thwart Militant Attack on Indian Consulate

Afghan security forces arrested a would-be suicide bomber in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad city, bordering Pakistan.

Remains of a dead body are carried away from the site of a suicide attack in Jalalabad province on August 3, 2013 after a suicide bomber attacked the Indian consulate. (Photo: Reuters)

Afghan security forces, on Sunday, arrested a would-be suicide bomber and thwarted his plan to attack the Indian Consulate in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad city, bordering Pakistan. This is the second such incident within a week.

Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) officials, on Monday, said the forces arrested the suicide bomber who was planning to attack the Indian Consulate in Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province.

The bomber, identified as Nasir, is a resident of Tagab district of north-eastern Kapisa province, Attaullah Ludin, a spokesman for the provincial governor, was quoted as saying by the Tolonews.

He said Nasir had recently joined the Taliban and confessed to his plot during investigations. There was no comment from the Taliban on the incident.

A week back, security personnel had arrested two ISIS terrorists who had planned to attack vehicles of the Indian Consulate in Jalalabad city with a 30 kg bomb.

When asked to comment on these arrests, External Affairs Minister, Vikas Swarup in New Delhi said that it once again shows the security situation in Afghanistan and the need to be ever-vigilant against such attempts.

In June this year, Afghanistan’s intelligence agency had arrested a group of Haqqani network militants who plotted a terror attack from Pakistan on a popular guest house in Kabul that killed 14 people, including four Indians.

In May 2014, the Indian consulate in Herat was attacked by four heavily-armed gunmen, who were subsequently killed in an encounter. India had attributed the strike to terror elements “beyond the borders” of the war-torn country.

In August 2013, a failed bombing against the Indian Consulate in Jalalabad killed nine people, including six children. No Indian officials were hurt.

The Haqqani network is blamed for several deadly attacks against Indian interests in Afghanistan including the 2008 bombing of the Indian mission in Kabul that killed 58 people.