New 'secret army' vows to attack US troops

A group calling itself the Secret Army of Mujahedeen is claiming responsibility for attacks on US troops in Arabic-language leaflets found in eastern Afghanistan.

The group, which has never been heard of before, also vows to avenge the deaths of Afghan civilians killed in US “friendly fire” accidents.

Although similar pamphlets have appeared since the US went to war in Afghanistan, this one is unusual because it is written in a language relatively few Afghans speak and even fewer can read.

That suggests the document could have been written for the several thousand Arabs, most of them suspected al-Qaida members, who may still be hiding in the remote mountains of the east.

The authors of the rambling six page leaflet did not refer to themselves as an offshoot of either al-Qaida or Taliban, but said their group had three goals: “To avenge the innocent martyrs of the brutal US bombing of Afghanistan; to continue jihad until the last foreign soldier is expelled from Afghanistan; and to defend the Muslim faith and freedom to establish an Islamic order.”

At the US military headquarters in Bagram, US spokesman Colonel Roger King said he was unaware of the group and refused to discuss threats, if any, which American forces have received.

“I have never heard of this group before,” he said. “Obviously, we get intelligence from time to time that I cannot talk about because it is intelligence. But as far as an increase in the number (of threats), no.”

However, if the Secret Army of Mujahedeen exists, it would mean a new group has emerged as a united force against the coalition 10 months after the hard-line Islamic Taliban regime collapsed.

The pamphlet, which Arabic speakers said was written by someone with a good command of classical Arabic, described Afghan President Hamid Karzai as a US “slave” because of Washington’s support for him.

Last month, Karzai’s Afghan bodyguards were dismissed and replaced by US Special Forces out of concern for his safety.

Its authors claimed to have carried out 21 separate attacks against the US military in Afghanistan between June 1 and August 31. However, few could be verified and some clearly did not take place.

A British peacekeeper was slightly hurt when a bomb exploded on Sunday in west Kabul, the capital, killing two Afghans and injuring two other people.