KABUL: According to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) official news agency, five Emirati
diplomats were killed in a bomb attack in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Tuesday.
Taliban insurgents bombed three Afghan cities including Kabul, killing around 50 people and wounding 100 others.
The Emirati news agency said that the five were killed while engaged in humanitarian, educational and development work.
“At least 11 people died when explosives hidden in a sofa detonated inside the governor’s compound in southern Kandahar during a visit by the UAE ambassador to Afghanistan, who escaped the attack with injuries,” it said, adding that the Emir of UAE Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan ordered flags flown at half mast for three days in mourning.
“Kandahar’s governor and UAE envoy Jumma Mohammed Abdullah Al Kaabi were wounded by flames from the explosion, but many others were burned beyond recognition,” provincial police chief Abdul Raziq told journalists.
Claiming the responsibility of the attacks, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the victims of the attack were mostly Afghan intelligence agents.
The UAE martyrs have been named as Mohammed Ali Zainal Al Bastaki, Abdullah Mohammed Essa Obaid Al Kaabi, Ahmed Rashid Salim Ali Al Mazroui, Ahmed Abdul Rahman Ahmad Al Tunaiji, and Abdul Hamid Sultan Abdullah Ibrahim Al Hammadi, who had been on a mission to carry out humanitarian, educational and development projects in Afghanistan.
