Pak hand in Surya's killing: Taliban

The claim reiterates India's stand that Pak was behind the engineer's killing.

A Taliban commander has claimed that Pakistan intelligence had a hand in the recent killing of Indian engineer K Suryanarayan in southern Afghanistan, a Kabul-based private TV channel reported.

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A Taliban commander wishing to remain anonymous told Tolu Television that Amir Khan Haqqani, the military commander of Taliban fighters in Zabul province, opposed the killing of Suryanarayan.

He claimed the Indian engineer was eventually killed by Mullah Latif, a militiaman under the command of Mawlawi Mohammad Alam Andar, allegedly on orders from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, a little-known website Afgha.com quoted the Tolu report as saying.

Following the accusation, Afghan President Hamid Karzai's chief of staff Jawed Ludin said the administration expects Islamabad to clarify its position on the accusation.

"The reports on Pakistani ISI involvement in the incident are very important to Afghanistan," Ludin said adding Kabul expects Islamabad to clarify its stance.

Suryanarayan was abducted by the Taliban from Zabul province on April 28 and his body was found on April 30.