Italian charity workers held over Afghan 'assassination plot'

Afghan security forces were yesterday questioning nine medical workers, including three Italians, after what officials said was a plot to kill a provincial governor.

The men were detained on Saturday after suicide vests, home-made bombs, guns and ammunition were found in a storeroom at a hospital in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, run by the Italian charity Emergency.

The three Italians held were said to be Emergency's medical coordinator in Afghanistan, Matteo Dell'Aira, surgeon Marco Garatti and logistical technician Matteo Pagani, according to Italian media reports.

Afghan interior ministry spokes-man Zemarai Bashary said: "Right now we're trying to find out how the equipment got into the hospital, why and who is responsible."

Helmand governor Gulab Mangal told reporters on Saturday that the nine were planning attacks in Lashkar Gah and that "the number one target was myself".

He said the operation was funded by the Afghan Taliban based in Pakistan and that they had been paid 500,000 dollars to carry it out.

Two suicide vests, nine hand grenades, five guns and a number of improvised explosive devices were found at the hospital, which provides free medical treatment to civilians in the volatile area.

Helmand government spokes-man Daud Ahmadi said the facility had been under surveillance for the past month and police swooped after "material" was brought there.

About 200 people gathered in Lashkar Gah yesterday, with some shouting: "Death to the Emergency hospital."

But the Milan-based charity said in a statement on its website that the accusation "sounds simply groundless to us and we are absolutely certain that the truth will come forth quickly".

Officials said they were trying to find out why their colleagues were arrested and speak to them.

"The only contact we have been able to make has been through one of the employee's cell phones answered by someone who identified himself as a British military official," the statement said.

Nato said it was not involved in the arrests. In Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini was closely following developments, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

"Pending details in this matter, the government reaffirms its strictly rigorous line against any direct or indirect support for terrorism, be it in Afghanistan or elsewhere," the spokesman added.

Taliban and other Islamic militants trying to topple the Western-backed government in Kabul use suicide bomb attacks as a tactic against Afghan and Western troops.

Southern Afghanistan has been the focus of the nearly nine-year insurgency since the Taliban were ousted from power in late 2001.