Five UAE officials among 56 killed in Afghanistan bombings
KANDAHAR: 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 employees exiting a parliament annexe, which houses the offices of lawmakers, killing at least 36 people and wounding 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 despite the onset of winter, 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-qaeda and Islamic State militants.
Kandahar’s governor Humayun Azizi and UAE envoy Juma Mohammed Abdullah Al Kaabi were wounded by flames from the explosion, but many others were burned beyond recognition, said provincial police chief Abdul Raziq, who was at the scene when the blast occurred. The Emirati officials killed were “on a mission to carry out humanitarian, educational and development projects”, said UAE official on Wednesday.
“This incident will in no way affect the relations and cooperation between Afghanistan and UAE,” President Ashraf Ghani said, ordering an investigation into the bombing.
The Taliban denied responsibility for the Kandahar attack, but they said they were behind the Kabul blasts. On Tuesday’s carnage came just ten days before Donald Trump is sworn in as US president.