KABUL -- Afghan forces last Friday (January 20) arrested two suspected militants from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, Khaama Press reported Tuesday (January 24). The arrests took place in Sar-e-Pul Province. Troops killed four Afghan militants while capturing the two foreigners.
The two detainees, Demir Zenliyov and Abdul Mateen, confessed to being nationals of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, Sar-e-Pul Governor Muhammad Zahir Wahdat said at a news conference, according to Khaama Press.
They confessed to being skilled bomb-makers and organisers of suicide bombers, Khronika Turkmenistana reported Tuesday.
A source at the Turkmen Interior Ministry 6th Administration, which fights organised crime and terrorism, ruled out the possibility of the two detainees having entered Afghanistan from Turkmenistan.
"Our border with Afghanistan is locked up tight," the source, who requested anonymity, told Caravanserai. "Those militants from Central Asia most likely entered Afghanistan from the Middle East, where they were fighting earlier."
