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Hundreds Arrested in Kabul for Plotting to Overthrow Afghan Government
Thursday, April 04, 2002
By Paul Haven
Canadian Press

Some 600 people were rounded up in the raids, and 250 released, said another western official in Kabul. Ten were being held on suspicion of serious offences, including terrorism, the official said.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- CP
Hundreds of people linked to a hardline Islamic group have been arrested in Kabul in connection with an alleged plot to overthrow the government of interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai, Afghan officials said Thursday.

The plot, the most serious threat yet to Karzai's fledgling administration, included plans to set off bombs throughout the capital, said Gen. Din Muhammad Jurat, the director general for security at the Interior Ministry. He said most of those arrested were members of Hezb-e-Islami, a hardline Islamic group headed by former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

"They wanted to launch a coup d'etat against the government," said Mohammed Naseer, the security director at the Kabul governor's office, adding that 350 people had been arrested. He said the plotters also wanted to disrupt the loya jirga, a political gathering planned for June to select a new Afghan government.

Afghan officials did not describe what evidence led them to carry out the sweeps. The arrests could heighten tensions between Pashtuns, Afghanistan's largest ethnic group, and the northern alliance, which is dominated by ethnic-Tajiks and which controls the interior and other key ministries. Hekmatyar's following is largely Pashtun.
(More: CanWest Interactive News Source)
2002 © The Canadian Press.

Dan