KABUL - Would-be suicide bombers detained in Afghanistan claim they have been brainwashed and equipped by Arab, Chechen and Uzbek militants in Pakistan, the Afghan intelligence service said Wednesday.The claims were from 17 attackers who were arrested in the past month before they had the chance to strike, Sayed Ansari, the spokesman for the Afghan National Directorate of Security told reporters. “All of the detained have confessed they received training for suicide attacks, attacks against schools and institutions from Arab, Chechen and Uzbek instructors on the other side of the border (Pakistan),” said Ansari.
He said illiterate people, those with a poor religious education or from deprived backgrounds were being “brainwashed” in Pakistani training camps across the border and sent to Afghanistan. “They focus on religious feelings of people, show them made-up videos of coalition forces in Afghanistan, preach that Islam is in danger in Afghanistan and the government does not have control to make them ready for their inauspicious attempts,” he said.
| That seems to be the standard M.O., doesn't it, whether you're in Peshawar, Bali or Gaza City. |