The Boston Globe

World

Haqqani tie suspected in attacks

KABUL — The Haqqani insurgent network, based in Pakistan and with ties to Al Qaeda, is suspected of being a driving force behind a significant number of the ‘‘insider’’ attacks by Afghan forces that have killed or wounded more than 130 US and allied service members this year, American officials said Friday.

Until now, officials had said the attacks seemed to stem either from personal grievances against the allies or from Taliban infiltration.

The Taliban has publicly claimed to be orchestrating the campaign to subvert the US-Afghan alliance.

In addition to 35 US and allied fighters killed in insider attacks last year, 61 were wounded. Those included 19 in a single attack in the eastern province of Laghman on April 16, 2011, in which six American service members were killed.

Thus far in 2012 there have been 53 killed and at least 80 wounded, US figures showed.

Haqqani involvement in the plotting would add a new dimension to that group’s insurgent activity, which has been marked largely by spectacular attacks against targets inside Kabul.