6 Killed In Afghan Terror Arrest

An apparent suicide bomber killed four intelligence agents, their driver and himself in the Afghan capital Sunday, the latest violent incident during a closely guarded convention drawing up the country's first post-Taliban constitution.

The suspect detonated explosives concealed under his clothing moments after the agents bundled him into a sports utility vehicle near the airport, Kabul police chief Baba Jan said.

The police chief said the suspect was a foreigner, but refused to identify him further, and other officials said identification was difficult because the bodies were so mutilated.

"They had just arrested him with explosives," Jan told reporters near the scene. "This guy had more explosives on his body, and when they took him inside the car, he blew himself up."

Police cordoned off the road while fire crews doused the burning wreckage. Officials gathered body parts from the twisted metal littering the road.

Abdul Jamil, the head of Kabul police's criminal investigation department, said the agents seized the suspect with a bomb packed into a pressure cooker. Another suspect got away, he said.

It was unclear if the pressure-cooker bomb also went off, feeding the fireball that engulfed the vehicle.

"He was a suicide bomber. Why else would he have these explosives on his body?" Jamil told The Associated Press by telephone.

Officials declined to speculate on whether the men were planning an attack, though one senior intelligence official said there have been general warnings about suicide bombings for months. It also was unclear if the loya jirga site, about six miles away, was the intended target.

Four German peacekeepers were killed and 29 wounded in a suicide attack on their bus in June. In October, the German commander of the peacekeeping force warned of a "new species" of well-trained terrorists, perhaps allied to al Qaeda, infiltrating the capital.

The Afghan official said on condition of anonymity that two suspected suicide attackers — an Iraqi and an Uzbek — were detained last year but recent intelligence "was never very specific."

The blast is the latest in a series of security scares since the historic constitutional convention started in the capital two weeks ago. At least five rockets have been fired into the city, damaging several houses, but causing no injuries. Two days ago, a bomb demolished a wall outside a house where United Nations staffers were sleeping. None were hurt.

On Sunday, the head of the convention was distributing a new draft of the charter after wrangling over issues such as women's rights, Islam and the balance of power in a future government.

Council chairman Sibghatullah Mujaddedi gave no details of the amendments made to a 160-article document proposed by the government of U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai last month.

The first draft envisioned a tolerant Islamic state under a strong presidency, a system Karzai argues is essential as the country recovers from civil war and confronts a violent Taliban comeback.

But the leaders of armed factions who fought Soviet occupation in the 1980s and helped U.S. forces oust the Taliban two years ago accuse him of accumulating dictatorial powers.

"The majority do want a presidential system, but with a strong parliament too," said Najia Emag, one of 100 female delegates at the jirga. "This will be brought to the plenary for a vote."

Meanwhile, religious hard-liners at the council are pushing for a more conservative adherence to Shariah, or Islamic law.

The U.S. military has warned that Taliban insurgents and their allies wanted to disrupt the gathering, which is protected by hundreds of Afghan troops and international peacekeepers.

Jan blamed al Qaeda and Taliban militants for Sunday's blast, but provided no evidence.

"They are the enemies of Afghanistan and they are Taliban and al Qaeda," Jan said.