KABUL, April 4: Afghan officials said on Thursday they had uncovered a bomb plot to “sabotage” the interim administration by followers of Hekmatyar and claimed intelligence agents had arrested more than 50 people, including commanders loyal to exiled warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, after warnings of a plot to sabotage the government.

“These people were trying to create a state of lawlessness, according to the information that we have from the interim government,” said Sultan Ahmad Baheen, head of the official Bakhtar news agency.

“More than 50 were arrested. According to the information we have, district commanders from Hezb-i-Islami (Hekmatyar’s party) were among those detained.

“There were not outstanding or prominent commanders. They were arrested by the intelligence service. Twenty-five are still being interrogated. Others have been released.”

A spokesman for Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, however, denied any involvement of his party in the alleged bomb plot.

“Hizb-i-Islami has nothing to do with this alleged revolt or the arrests,” the party’s spokesman, Ghairat Baheer, — also Hekmatyar’s son-in-law - said.

“It is part of an ongoing tussle between various parties of the Northern Alliance to increase their area of influence in Afghanistan,” he added.

A defence ministry official said “some of Hekmatyar’s men had been sent here to Kabul to sabotage the government”.

Baheen, the Bakhtar chief, denied reports that former Northern Alliance finance minister Wahidullah Sabaoon was among those who had been arrested.

“According to the information we have from the interim administration, Wahidullah Sabaoon was not among the detainees.”

Sabaoon was a close ally of Hekmatyar but later defected and joined the Northern Alliance, becoming a minister in the government that took power in Kabul in November after the fall of the Taliban. He was not given a job in the interim administration formed the following month.

A spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Kabul said ISAF had been informed that the government had arrested around 300 people in a series of raids.

“The total is around 300 but we don’t know the reason for the raids,” said a spokesman.

Hekmatyar’s party represents the Pakhtoons, whereas most senior officials in the interim administration installed after the Taliban’s ouster are ethnic Tajiks.—AFP