11 suicide vests found at Afghan military HQ

Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers seen in the Surobi district of Kabul province, March 14, 2012.

/ Getty

Story written by CBS News producer Randall Joyce, with reporting from CBS News Kabul bureau chief Fazul Rahim.

Updated 2:00 PM ET

(CBS News) KABUL - A major terrorist plot targeting Afghan soldiers was uncovered Monday at the Ministry of Defense headquarters in Kabul, an official at the Ministry has confirmed to CBS News.

The official, who asked not to be identified because the Afghan government yet to acknowledge the plot, revealed that 11 suicide vests were found in three rooms in the area surrounding a parking lot at the Ministry.

The investigation is still in its early stages but it is known that 11 buses were scheduled to leave the parking lot carrying Afghan army personnel. The working theory among investigators so far is that a bomber was meant to get on each of those buses and stage a spectacular simultaneous attack.

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Six Afghan soldiers were immediately arrested on the scene and it is believed they were ready to proceed with a suicide attack.

The BBC reports Tuesday that 12 additional arrests have been made.

The Afghan government has so far refused to confirm the plot, but CBS News has learned that Afghanistan's defense minister has been called to the presidential palace to give a full briefing on the details of the investigation. The palace itself is less than a mile away from where the vests were found.

However, Afghan officials later said the intelligence report was false, The Associated Press reported.

Afghan officials: Lockdown based on faulty intel

The plot was uncovered in Kabul on a day when three NATO soldiers were killed by members of the Afghan security forces - incidents the U.S. military has labeled "Green on Blue" attacks.

The attacks - and the discovery of the suicide vests - highlight an ongoing problem of Taliban infiltration of the Afghan security forces, along with a series of incidents where personal conflicts have escalated to violence.

In February, a U.S. Army Colonel and a Major were killed inside the Ministry of the Interior by a gunman believed to have been an Afghan policeman who escaped and remains at large.

[euge005]

The purpose of the war was not to invade for gain as it was in Iraq. It was to stop these Taliban from sheltering the criminals that committed the 9-11 attacks. Yes Bush bungled it, to be expected from a oil company proxy. But it was the right thing to do and I have not seen one post here that admits it. Biggest error outside of shifting to Iraq was the gutless failure to execute the terrorists we caught. And Obama has to share that blame.

[euge005]

Heck of a lot better story and more hopeful one than the other about abusing women in the news today.

[klaxxus]

I was just reading on reddit yesterday a post from a soldier shot 3 times in the back with an M-16 by an ANA soldier while he and some other Americans were playing football on downtime at their FOB. It seems to happen often but you don't see it in the news. What does that tell you?

[cattiej]

We need to leave Afghanaston tomorrow morning...this is a lost cause...this country almost bankrupted Russia, has our government learned nothing from 10 years and billions of dollars of war...these people hate us, we have made mortal enemies of these people..they think of us a infidels. If we need to be at war somewhere then bring back the draft...the selective service should be ready to start drawing numbers of out a hat...I have to remember that some of our soldiers have been arrested numerous times before going off to war. Stop the War....

[sandiegopete]

The one and only reason for our invasion of Afghanistan was to find and kill bin Laden. Our forces almost got him in Tora Bora. Eventually he has killed in Pakistan. There is no longer any reason to remain in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan does not have a central government so much as it has a number of tribes who want to control their own areas and a group of ultra conservative islamists called the Taliban who want to control everything.

Once bin Laden was killed the job of our military was done. Time to bring them home.

[xJohnPx]

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it."

George Bernard Shaw

[infantryman1968]

by truthteller2012 March 27, 2012 12:44 PM EDT

any american who has decency to admit that america is the problem,gets attacked by these millitary guys that didn't want to work for a paycheck,but chose to earn for a living by terrorizing occupied nations.


LOL!


You forgot a "Yes We Can" or Obama 2012 on your rant!

[ConSense]

People who think America is the problem aren't "decent." They're "traitors." That's especially true of those who think our military men and women are "terrorizing" anyone.

[someperson346]

@ConSense

Oh, so anyone who criticizes America, even if they are in the right, become "traitors?" Anyone who thinks a military who has killed thousands of civilians, who detains people indefinitely in Guantamo, who protected their own, ensuring that a soldier who killed 24 civilians gets only 3 months in prison, anyone who thinks they are "terrorizing" people are traitors? I see only one traitor here: the unquestioning "patriot"

[PDonalds]

Routine re-investigations, including polygraphs to fight and prevent these attacks. http://t.co/rv9CwYeR

[xJohnPx]

Initially they may have joined up for 3 square meals and a paycheck in a collapsed economy. But a after a while the fact that they are collaborating with the an invading occupying army must continuously weigh on their conscience. I suspect the occupying German army of WWII experienced similar problems with their collaborators.

[infantryman1968]

LOL!

You should put a "Yes We Can" on the end of your rant.

They are probably holding them for the DNC....."just in case"

[infantryman1968]

LOL!

You should put a "Yes We Can" or Obama 2012 on the end of your rant!

[bbarnes5557]

Cowards plain and simple..We cant even bomb them into the stone age because theyre already there....