KABUL, March 18: Afghanistan’s intelligence agency said on Wednesday that last month’s attacks on government buildings in Kabul were planned and directed from Pakistan, saying seven Afghans had been arrested.

The attackers were in telephone contact with a Pakistan-based ringleader during the simultaneous attacks on the
justice ministry, prisons directorate and education ministry, agency spokesman Saeed Ansary told reporters.

The February 11 attacks, claimed by Taliban insurgents, killed 26 Afghans in one of the most brazen assaults on the capital since the movement was overthrown in the 2001 US-led invasion.

Eight of the attackers were killed, three by their suicide bombs.

“Seven terrorists were arrested and one was killed during the arrest operation,” Mr Ansary said, without giving any further details about the raid.

The alleged ringleader, whom Mr Ansary identified only as Harris, was based in Waziristan tribal area on the Afghan border and was still at large there, the official said.

Some of the suspects told authorities they had received military training in Waziristan, he said. “I met Harris in Waziristan and received training in using weapons,” one alleged suspect said in a video recording handed to media.—AFP