TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – A fire started by an inmate tore through an overcrowded prison in Honduras, burning and suffocating screaming men in their locked cells as rescuers desperately searched for keys. As many as 300 people were killed in the KABUL — NATO-led forces arrested a deputy provincial police chief they accused of helping place roadside bombs north of Kabul, officials said, in the latest sign of concerns about weaknesses in Afghan security forces.
Provincial officials said today that the man was an honest and good officer.
The Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, wasn't informed about the arrest in advance and is contacting NATO to learn what happened, according to ministry spokesman Zamary Bashary.
Attaullah Wahab, the deputy police chief and security director in Kapisa province, was detained along with a bodyguard in a raid backed by helicopters while he was home in the provincial capital of Mahmud-i-Raqi, according to a spokesman for the provincial government, Halim Ayar.
NATO did not identify the suspect but said joint Afghan-coalition forces arrested an Afghan national police commander Friday for illegal activity and corruption in Kapisa and the Bagram district — the site of the main U.S. military hub — in neighboring Parwan province.
He was accused of involvement in the storage, distribution and installation of bombs on roads surrounding Mahmud-i-Raqi as well as corruption related to road reconstruction.
"He has been clearly linked to criminal activities including a murder during the summer of 2009," a NATO statement said of the detained police official.
Combating the threat of roadside bombs has taken on new urgency as 37,000 new U.S. and NATO troops arriving means more targets. Improvised explosives are the biggest single killer of international and Afghan forces, and they also kill hundreds of civilians.
Today, a bomb detonated by remote control struck an Afghan patrol near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, killing three policemen, according to local police officer Mohammad Razaq.
Wahab had been in his post for about a year, and Ayar said he was "an honest man and a good officer." He said dozens of residents staged a brief protest against the arrest Saturday.
The confusion underscored the uneasy relationship between the U.S.-led forces and Afghan community leaders. President Hamid Karzai has frequently called on the international force to improve coordination with Afghan troops.
U.S.-led forces are increasing efforts to train Afghan police and soldiers and overcome concerns about infiltration by Taliban militants and corruption so the international force can eventually withdraw.
