KABUL
Suicide bombers who had planned to attack the second anniversary memorial of former President Burhanuddin Rabbani died during a raid in Kabul late Tuesday.
"A number of suicide bombers gathered in a house in Chaharhi Qambar district," a well-informed source at the National Directorate of Security (NDS) told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday on condition of anonymity.
"They wanted to attack the annual memorial ceremony of the late Rabbani," the source added.
Rabbani, who served as president of Afghanistan in the early 1990s, was killed in a suicide attack on his Kabul home in September 2011.
At the time, he was head of Afghanistan's High Peace Council, formed by President Hamid Karzai to engage in peace talks with the Taliban.
Each year, hundreds of Afghan government officials, politicians, lawmakers and citizens attend Rabbani's memorial ceremony.
The ceremony is scheduled for later today in Kabul.
The NDS source said Afghan troops had raided the bombers' safe house at around 9pm local time.
Feeling trapped, the bombers are believed to have detonated their explosives in one room, killing themselves and wounding three security personnel.
"We aren't sure if the attackers were two or three. We will find out after biometric tests, because their bodies are shattered," said the NDS official.
He added that security forces had recovered a large ammunition cache from the house.
But Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said it was only a "tactical explosion," denying the involvement of suicide bombers.
"A cell phone belonging to the mujahideen [Taliban fighters] was tracked by Kabul Intelligence recently," he told AA over the phone from an undisclosed location.
"So to use it to harm the enemy, the mujahideen placed explosives in the house and put the cell phone there," Mujahid said.
"When they [security forces] raided the house, we donated the explosives."
Mujahid claimed that several government security personnel had been killed and wounded in the blast.
The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 before being ousted by US-led forces following the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington.
US-led foreign forces are scheduled to withdraw from the country by the end of 2014.
The Taliban have recently stepped up attacks on government and foreign forces and facilities.
Thousands of civilians have been killed and injured since the US-led invasion in 2001, but the Afghan government has not been able to provide a reliable casualty toll.
by Zubair Babakarkhail
englishnews@aa.com.tr
