Did Taliban try to kill German chancellor?

BERLIN, May 8 (UPI) -- A Taliban leader said his group had tried to kill German Chancellor Angela Merkel after obtaining classified information on her secret trip to Afghanistan.

The German daily Bild reports that Mullah Barijalai, a Taliban leader for northern Afghanistan, told an interviewer from a Taliban-affiliated Web site that his group had planned and staged a terrorist attack targeting Merkel on April 6, when she was in the country for an unannounced visit.

According to Bild, Barijalai said he had received "classified information" on Merkel's secret visit to northern Afghanistan but refused to give his source.

The Taliban had fired rockets at the airport of Mazar-i-Sharif roughly 20 minutes after Merkel had taken off for Germany. The rockets' target, the Taliban said, was Merkel's plane.

Security officials are worried that a Taliban spy may have infiltrated government or military circles in Germany or Afghanistan; the visit had been kept secret until the very last moment.

Merkel was in the country to visit some of the 4,000 German troops stationed with the International Security Assistance Force.