Diplomats among 56 killed in Afghan blasts
Five UAE officials were among 56 people killed in a string of bombings across Afghan cities, authorities said on Wednesday, as Taliban militants step up a deadly winter campaign of violence.
The Emiratis were among 13 people killed when explosives hidden in a sofa detonated inside the governor's compound in southern Kandahar on Tuesday, while the UAE's ambassador to Afghanistan escaped the attack with injuries.
Just hours before, twin Taliban blasts in Kabul tore through a parliament annex, which houses the offices of lawmakers, killing at least 36 people and wounding around 80 others.
And earlier on Tuesday, a Taliban suicide bomber killed seven people in Lashkar Gah, the capital of volatile Helmand province, as the militants ramp up nationwide attacks in frigid winter months, when fighting usually wanes.
The carnage underscores growing insecurity in Afghanistan, where US-backed forces are struggling to combat a resilient Taliban insurgency as well as al-Qaida and Islamic State.
Kandahar's governor Humayun Azizi and UAE envoy Juma Mohammed Abdullah al-Kaabi were wounded by flames, but many others were burned beyond recognition, said provincial police chief Abdul Raziq, who was present when the blast took place.
"I was in the room, but had leave to offer my evening prayer," Raziq said. "I heard the boom from outside and when I came back I saw people were burning."
Raziq blamed Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence and the Taliban-allied Haqqani network for the attack, adding they had long been plotting to eliminate Kandahar's leadership.
The UAE foreign ministry said the diplomats were in Afghanistan on a humanitarian mission at the time of the attack.
(China Daily 01/12/2017 page12)
