ISLAMABAD, December 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies)  - Afghan Pashtun leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said Wednesday, December 25, his forces would step up "holy war" to target international forces in Afghanistan.

"Hezb-e-Islami will fight our jihad [holy struggle] until foreign troops are gone from Afghanistan and Afghans have set up an Islamic government," CNN quoted the former Afghan prime minister as saying in a Pashtu-language message distributed in Pakistan by his followers.

Hezb-e-Islami is the name used for his forces.

According to CNN, European intelligence sources say Hekmatyar's operatives have purchased vehicles that may be used for bomb attacks to try to destabilize U.S.-installed Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government.

Hekmatyar was a key resistance commander during the 1980s Soviet war on Afghanistan.

He lived in exile in Iran during the five years of the former Taliban rule. He returned after U.S.-led forces attacked Afghanistan and ousted the Taliban.

His following among ethnic Pashtuns is considered fairly significant. There is no accurate assessment of his forces, but U.S. authorities consider him a threat and a target.

U.S. Special Forces in Kunar province have come under regular rocket attacks, many of them believed to be staged by Hekmatyar's men.

International forces in Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan have come under increasing fire in recent days. In Kabul, two U.S. Special Forces members were wounded when a grenade was hurled at their vehicle.

Camp Warehouse, the main ISAF base in Kabul, was also attacked by grenades.

In Kunar province, a U.S. soldier was hurt when rockets were fired at his base.

In the tribal belt, owners of several arms shops, who did not want their names used, said large quantities of Kalashnikov rifles and grenades have been purchased in recent months by both Afghans and Pakistanis, said CNN.