| International peacekeepers refused to reveal the identity of a suspected senior rebel commander arrested in a raid in the capital earlier this week, but insisted Wednesday that his capture removed an imminent threat to Afghan peace. Afghan intelligence agents backed by 100 Canadian peacekeepers nabbed the man in Kabul along with five others in an early morning raid Tuesday. Cdr. Chris Henderson, a spokesman for the peacekeepers, called the International Security Assistance Force, said the man was believed to be a key commander in the army of renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami group has teamed with al-Qaida and Taliban holdouts in frequent attacks on the U.S.-led coalition. The man "was deemed to be an imminent threat to the people of Kabul, international aid workers" and personnel from the United Nations and the peacekeeping contingent, Henderson said. "That threat has now been removed from the streets of Kabul." Henderson, however, refused to name the suspect or give any details of his role within Hekmatyar's organization, or say what plans he may have had for future attacks. He said such information is withheld for tactical reasons. "Suffice to say that he is suspected to be senior ... but it is important to us that we don't reveal all the details that we learn when a raid like this occurs," Henderson said. "The intention is for us to keep to ourselves information that we can then use to further our investigations and to get to the bottom of these organizations and get the main leaders." Afghan security personnel would also not immediately comment on the man's identity. |