Conflicts & War

Mastermind of Kabul university attack arrested

Kabul, Nov 14 (efe-epa).- The authorities in Afghanistan has arrested the main mastermind of a recent terrorist attack on Kabul university in which 22 people were killed and 40 others were injured, the government said on Saturday.

The attack on Kabul University Campus was carried out by three armed men on Nov. 2 and went on for five hours inside a building of the Faculty of Law, in what was the worst ever terror attack faced by the institution in two decades.

“We arrested the planner cell of the attack on Kabul university,” First Vice President Amrullah Saleh said in a statement.

Saleh explained the mastermind and planner of the attack was a person named Adil, who has been recruited to the Haqqani Network three years ago by Sanaullah, a long time member of the network.

Although the attack was then claimed by the Islamic State, and the Taliban had rejected their involvement in it, the government had insisted it was the work of the Taliban.

The first vice president stressed that “Daesh (IS) is only a (cover) name” for this group and that it uses names of different militant groups depending on their plan.

“Adil says he has received the weapons from the Haqqani Network from (southeastern) Khost province and was being instructed and guided by Sanaullah,” Saleh said.

The mastermind confessed that said he was told by the Haqqani Network to carry out an attack to bring the Afghan government under pressure and project it as weak and incapable, which could not be done by attacking military targets.

Adil, a native of northern Panjshir province and whose family has been residing in the capital city of Kabul, was given weapons training by the militants outside the country for the last three years, according to the statement.

Afghanistan has been witnessing escalating violence especially at a time when representatives of the Taliban and the government have been holding peace talks in Doha since early September.

The two sides are negotiating an end to the Afghan war, raging since 2001 when the US invaded the country.

Washington brokered the intra-Afghan peace talks after the Taliban-US peace agreement signed in Doha in February.

Washington has agreed for a full withdrawal of troops in 14 months in return for security guarantees that the Taliban would not use the Afghan soil for attacks against foreign countries, particularly the US. EFE-EPA

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