Afghanistan’s main intelligence agency says it has formally asked Pakistan to hand over three suspects in a deadly bomb attack on a provincial governor's residence in January.
Masoum Stanakzai, the chief of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), unveiled on June 15 the results of an investigation into the blast in the southern city of Kandahar.
“We have officially given the names of three people involved in this attack to Pakistani authorities to demand their handover to Afghanistan,” he said. “We are determined to punish everyone involved in this attack. We have established their involvement in planning this attack. We have passed on all the important information to nab them.”
Thirteen people were killed in the bombing, including five diplomats from the United Arab Emirates and seven Afghan officials including Kandahar Province’s deputy governor.
Stanakzai said his organization investigated the attacks with the help of counterterrorism authorities from United Arab Emirates and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations.
Stanakzai said an Afghan cook working at the residence was responsible for carrying out the bombing using remote-controlled, military-grade explosive devices.
He said two Taliban militants promised the cook $30,000 and a house in Pakistan if he carried out the attack successfully.
Stanakzai added that the attack was organized by the Taliban leadership council based in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta.
The Taliban has denied involvement. Nafees Zakaria, the spokesman for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, told Radio Mashaal they are looking into the reported Afghan request.
With reporting by dpa and Pajhwok
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