August 26, 2008	Tuesday	Sha'aban 23, 1429

TAXILA, Aug 25: The two suicide bombers who blew themselves at the Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) gates in Wah Cantonment last week were trained in Miramshah, the main town of North Waziristan Agency, by the Pakistani Taliban allegedly supported by the Indian intelligence agency – Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

Officials privy to investigations told this reporter on condition of anonymity that the bombers were aged between 17 and 20 and they were natives of Khyber Agency.

According to the officials, the detained would-be suicide bomber, who identified himself as Hameedullah, revealed some stunning facts about the activities and involvement of proxy Taliban in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

Hameedullah described how the Taliban trained and provided arms and ammunition to the militants. They have also hired psychologists who brainwash innocent youth from different seminaries and transform them into hard-line militant or “Fidayeen”.

The officials said Hameedullah was arrested while trying to flee from the scene of the blasts in a taxi. Soon after the incident, law-enforcement agencies seized an explosive-vest that the suspect had left in a toilet at a mosque located close to the POF complex.

During initial interrogation, the man confessed that he wanted to blow himself up at the arms factory but lost heart at the last moment.

The officials declined to give more details because it could affect the ongoing investigation.

However, they said there was an overwhelming body of evidence showing that RAW and the Afghan intelligence agencies had stepped up their activities in Pakistan.

“RAW and the Afghan intelligence agencies are very much active in the tribal areas. Several Afghan agents have been arrested and they confessed that they were trained by the Indians in Afghanistan,” the officials said.

“There are more than 10,000 Indian soldiers in Afghanistan, ostensibly to protect engineers involved in road building activities. But, in fact, most of them are spies and there maybe thousands more who are causing carnage in Pakistan” they added.