Pakistan spies 'aided Kabul bomb'

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Elements in Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency helped plan last month's deadly suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, US officials have alleged.

The accusation was made in briefings to the New York Times and the Washington Post by US government officials.

The allegation that Pakistani spies helped plan the attack is apparently based on intercepted communications.

Pakistan's government called the report "total rubbish", saying there was no proof for the allegations.

There was a sense that there was finally direct proof US state department official <a class="" href="/1/hi/world/south_asia/7534968.stm">Pakistan spy agency accused by US</a><a class="" href="/1/hi/world/south_asia/7534597.stm">Pakistan PM meets a sceptical US</a>

"We reject it. No one has given any evidence to us. It's just an allegation," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq told Reuters news agency.

"There's no proof for this."

More than 50 people were killed in the blast, including two senior Indian diplomats. It was the bloodiest in the Afghan capital since the Taleban were driven from power in 2001.

The Indian and Afghan governments have also accused the ISI of involvement in the suicide attack.

'Suspicions'

BBC security correspondent Rob Watson says few details have been given about the intercepts.

This is a baseless allegation that the New York Times keeps on recycling using anonymous sources Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq

But he says US officials allege that they clearly point to Pakistani help with the logistics and planning of the bombing.

One unnamed state department official quoted by the New York Times described the intercepted communications as "direct proof" of ISI involvement.

"It confirmed some suspicions that I think were widely held," the official, who was described as having knowledge of Afghanistan issues, was quoted as saying.

"It was sort of this 'aha' moment. There was a sense that there was finally direct proof," the official said.

Our correspondent says US intelligence believes the bombing itself was carried out by fighters loyal to Jalaludin Haqqani - an Afghan militant accused of having close links to both al-Qaeda and the Taleban and elements within the ISI.

According to a report in the New York Times earlier this week, a senior CIA official travelled to Pakistan last month to confront Islamabad over links between the ISI and Islamic extremists both in Pakistan's tribal areas and over the border in Afghanistan.

The Pakistani government consistently denies such links, although it has acknowledged that the US raised serious concerns about the issue during this week's visit to Washington by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

Although most Western intelligence sources agree there are links between elements of the ISI and extremists connected to the Taleban and al-Qaeda, there are marked disagreements as to the extent and nature of those links, our correspondent says.

Some see them as an exception to the generally helpful approach of the Pakistanis, while others believe the ISI is badly compromised and its links to the militants more than a question of a few rogue agents.