Kabul, Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Interior Minister who figures on the UN Sanctions list, met families of the slain suicide bombers at Kabul’s glitzy InterContinental Hotel, and termed suicide bombers as the "heroes of Islam and the country”.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the dreaded Haqqani Network, personally hugged the families of the suicide bombers and gave them cash and promised them land.
In all photographs of the event held on Monday, Sirajuddin either has his back to the camera or his face is blurred out.
The FBI has offered $10 million for information leading to his arrest. No recent photographs exist of him.
The Taliban have prioritised the families of their suicide bombers and wounded veterans to receive the international humanitarian aid that is supposed to reach the most needy in Afghanistan, says Independent Persian.
He pledged support for the families of fighters killed in suicide attacks over the past 20 years.
“Suicide bombers are heroes of Islam and our Homeland,” Sirajuddin Haqqani declared in a meeting with families of the suicide bombers.
In his speech, Haqqani praised the “jihad and sacrifices of the martyrs and Mujahidin and called them heroes of Islam and the country”.
Ironically, the meeting was in the very hotel which was attacked by Taliban suicide squad many times in recent years.
Sirajuddin, the eldest son of Jalaluddin Haqqani, founder of the Haqqani Network, captured
global attention with several high-profile attacks, some of which resulted in a large number of civilian casualties. These included attacks on the Serena Hotel in Kabul in January 2008, the Indian Embassy in Kabul in July 2008, and several others.
He also cultivated strong links with the Al-Qaeda, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan the Jaish-e-Mohammed.
In September 2007, the UN Sanctions list included his name for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities” in support of these terror groups (United Nations Security Council, 2007). The US State department designated him a global terrorist in 2008 and declared the Haqqani Network a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2012.
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