ISI training suicide bombers, claims BBC documentary

Kabul - A new documentary from the BBC blames Pakistan’s key intelligence agency, the ISI, of continued support to Taliban in both weapons and training.

The BBC documentary titled Secret Pakistan tells the story of a young man held by Afghan intelligence near Kabul, Afghanistan, who claims he was recruited and trained for suicide bombing by the ISI in Pakistan. The young man whose name wasn’t mentioned in the new story says he received 15 days of training in suicide bombing, overseen by an ISI official, before being sent to Afghanistan. He says no security checkpoint stopped the vehicle as it was ISI’s and nobody “dares stop their cars”. According to BBC’s documentary, the young man was told that he would receive a suicide jacket to blow himself at his target in Afghanistan. However, he changed his mind shortly before setting out on his mission, and was arrested by Afghan intelligence. Reuters also tell about another Taliban commander named Najib who spoke about training in the same camp where Al-Qaeda trainers also participated in training the recruits and selecting potential suicide bombers. The ISI, on the other hand, has denied these reports, saying that nothing can be farther from the truth. BBC says that Pakistan has strongly denied the allegations brought up against the ISI in the documentary the second part of which will be broadcasted on 2nd November.