Al Qaeda plans new violence, official says

KABUL, Afghanistan – Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network is regrouping and preparing to bring Iraq-style bloodshed to Afghanistan, the defense minister said Friday, warning his country may face intense violence ahead of key legislative elections this fall.

Intelligence indicates the terror group slipped about half a dozen Arab agents into Afghanistan in the past three weeks, including two who detonated themselves in suicide bombings against a mosque and a convoy of U.S. troops, Defense Minister Rahim Wardak told the Associated Press.

“We do believe that we will have three months of very tough times,” Wardak said. “The enemies of this nation will do everything they can to disrupt the (Sept. 18 parliamentary) elections.”

Wardak’s comments came a day after the outgoing U.S. ambassador warned that militants were likely to try to subvert the legislative balloting.

“They are likely to intensify their efforts to … derail the elections,” said Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, tapped by President Bush to be the top U.S. diplomat in Iraq.

Wardak said: “We have gotten reports here and there that they have entered – at least half a dozen of them. The last report is that they came in just close to the time of the mosque attack.”

The June 1 blast killed 20 mourners in Kandahar at the funeral of a moderate cleric who was assassinated. The same day, a shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile was fired at a U.S. aircraft, but missed. On Monday, a suicide bomber drove up to a U.S. military vehicle in Kandahar and detonated himself, wounding four U.S. soldiers.

Officials said the mosque attacker appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent. Wardak said initial indications are the second suicide attacker also was Arab.

The bombings represent a change in tactics of the insurgency, now in its fourth year. Afghan Taliban fighters have rarely resorted to suicide attacks, a practice considered more common among Arab militants.

The defense minister said al Qaeda and the Taliban were receiving support from “regional powers” rattled by Afghanistan’s request for a long-term U.S. and NATO presence, but he declined to single out any country.