KABUL — Five NATO troops died in roadside bombs in Afghanistan, the alliance said Saturday, as international forces announced that they had foiled a terrorist attack on an upcoming conference in Kabul to be attended by leaders from more than 60 nations.
Security is being tightened across the capital for the conference Tuesday, which is attracting the heads of NATO and the United Nations and top diplomats. In May, Taliban fighters had a gunbattle with security forces and militants launched a rocket that landed about 100 yards from the site of a national peace conference in the capital. Three civilians, but no conference delegates, were wounded.
Acting on intelligence, a combined international and Afghan commando force captured a Taliban bomb-making expert Friday night in Kabul, NATO said.
Neither Afghan nor NATO officials would identify the suspect, give details of the plot or say how advanced the planning was. The Afghan Defense Ministry said several “enemies of the people” were killed in the raid and 26 insurgent suspects were arrested.
