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New York Times: CIA Assassination of Hekmatyar Failed
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Hekmatyar
Survived CIA Assassination Plan
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WASHINGTON,
May 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – The Central Intelligence
Agency tried to kill Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who vowed to
topple interim president Hamid Karzai and strike at U.S. and allied
troops in Afghanistan, The New York Times said Thursday.
"We
had information that he was planning attacks on American and coalition
forces, on the interim government and on Karzai himself," an
unnamed Pentagon official told the daily.
The CIA tried to kill Hekmatyar on Monday using a Hellfire anti-tank
missile fired from an unmanned Predator surveillance drone.
One official said Hekmatyar was traveling in a convoy, another
official said he was standing with some people.
Hekmatyar,
the leader of a military Pashtun party called Hezb-i-Islami who
recently returned to Afghanistan after a long exile in Iran, survived
the attack, the U.S. officials said without indicating if he was
injured in any way.
The failed attack was the first against an Afghan factional
leader who does not belong to either the terrorist al-Qaeda network or
the former Taliban regime that supported it.
According to the daily, it denotes the U.S.
government's determination to support the new government in
Afghanistan, as the attack targeted a leader from outside the Taliban
and Al-Qeada.
According
to the paper, the U.S. officials had some information confirming that
Hekmatyar is involved in the attempt to topple Karzai government, as
well as launching attacks against American soldiers in Afghanistan.
The
paper, attempting to confirm the U.S. wishes to remove any threat to
Karzai and Zaher Shah, said last April, the Karzai government arrested
many members of Hezb-i-Islami who support Hekmatyar. This followed the
discovery of documents containing the master plans to attack Hamed
Karzai and Mohamed Zaher Shah, Afghanistan former king.
Although
the Karzai government did not directly blame Hekmatyar for this plot,
it implies that Hekmatyar previously swore that he would end Karzai
government rule and dispel all foreigners from Afghanistan. Karzai had
also accused Hekmatyar, in an interview with Reuters, of being a
puppet in the hands of foreigners.
According
to U.S. sources, the attack was launched by a pilotless airplane.
Nevertheless, the Afghani sources described the attack as a very
strong air bombardment with Cruise missiles.
The
attack resulted in injuring 30 students from a religious school
affiliated to a mosque that was destroyed by the attack. The attack
took place in Konar, in which it is believed that Hekmatyar is hiding,
as his party enjoys widespread support in this area.
Kashmir
Khan, leader of the Islamic party in the area said that he could
not find the reason behind the bombing, as there are no Taliban
members in this area.
Taliban
had unsuccessfully tried to overtake this area for a long period.
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