Afghan security forces thwarted a suicide bomb attack on a provincial governor on Monday and arrested a suspected al-Qaida member from Mali, the governor said.
Ustad Atta Mohammad, governor of Balkh province, said the suspect, who he identified as Kroma Yahya from Mali, had been intercepted with a vest packed with explosives, on his way to a meeting with the governor.
“He has been watched by security forces for days and today he was due to meet me,” Mohammad told reporters.
“He had attached explosives in his waistcoat to kill me in a suicide raid, but security forces aborted it after checking him before the meeting,” he said.
Mohammad said Yahya had recently come to Mazar-i-Sharif to set up a school, and he belonged to al-Qaida.
Authorities were questioning him and would hand him over to the U.S. military, Mohammad said.
Little details
A government official in Kabul confirmed the arrest of a suspected suicide bomber from Mali but declined to give details.
Mohammad was a prominent commander in the Northern Alliance opposition to the Taliban that helped U.S. forces oust the Taliban in 2001.
Dozens of people have been killed in a wave of bombings across Afghanistan, including 14 suicide attacks, in recent months.
Authorities in southern Afghanistan last week said they had arrested several suspected militants including five Pakistanis, an Iranian and an Iraqi.
The government says Taliban and al-Qaida militants are cooperating in their campaign to drive out U.S. and other foreign troops and defeat the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.