Afghans Detain 17 Linked to Pakistan

Security agents have arrested 17 people allegedly trained in Pakistan who they believe planned to launch suicide attacks in three Afghan provinces, Afghanistan’s intelligence agency said Wednesday.

The United Nations’ refugee agency, meanwhile, said tens of thousands of people have been driven from their homes by recent fighting in southern Afghanistan, and the number could increase.

Said Ansari, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, said that the 17 people were detained in Nangarhar, Kunduz and Kabul provinces and that they told authorities they had attended training camps in Pakistan. It was unclear when they were detained.

Ansari said militants in Pakistan incite fighters to carry out suicide attacks by telling them that girls in Afghanistan are wearing un-Islamic clothing or studying subjects in school unrelated to Islam.

“They are telling those people that they should conduct suicide attacks because the foreigners who are here are doing bad things in Afghanistan that are unacceptable in an Islamic country,” he said.

Few details were provided on the detainees. One was an Afghan, said Ansari, who did not disclose the nationalities of the others.

Taliban-linked militants have stepped up attacks this year, including suicide and roadside bombings. It’s been the deadliest period in Afghanistan since late 2001, when U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban regime for harboring Osama bin Laden.