Kabul guest house stormed

German and Afghan killed, Finnish woman kidnapped in attack on home run by charity

AGERMAN aid worker and an Afghan guard were killed and a Finnish woman kidnapped as gunmen stormed an international guest house in central Kabul, officials said yesterday. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack late on Saturday on the guest house run by Swedish charity Operation Mercy.

In further violence throughout the country, 20 Afghan policemen were killed early yesterday when Taliban fighters stormed their outposts in the southern province of Zabul, as the insurgents escalate their annual spring offensive.

The interior ministry confirmed the brazen Kabul attack, the latest in a series of assaults on aid workers in Afghanistan.

“A Finnish lady was kidnapped from police district [three] last night at 11.30.

“A German lady and an Afghan guard were killed,” interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said on Twitter.

Authorities in Helsinki confirmed a Finnish citizen had been kidnapped, and that they were investigating the incident in coordination with their counterparts in Kabul.

“At the moment, the identity of the kidnappers in not known.

“Finland urges the immediate release of the kidnapped person,” the Finnish foreign ministry said.

Operation Mercy works with Afghan communities in areas such as reducing infant mortality and women’s empowerment.

The kidnapping of foreigners has been on the rise, but the threat of abductions is even greater for Afghans.

Kabul is plagued by criminal gangs who stage abductions for ransom, often targeting foreigners and wealthy residents, and sometimes handing them over to insurgent groups.

The violence underscores the worsening security in Afghanistan, which is in the grip of an insurgency waged by the Taliban and other groups.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the coordinated attack in Zabul’s Shah Joy district, another stinging blow to Nato-backed Afghan forces.

Zabul officials made desperate calls to Afghan television stations because they were unable to get hold of senior authorities to seek help, highlighting the disarray in the ranks of security forces.

“This morning, a group of Taliban fighters armed with heavy and light weapons launched coordinated attacks on several police checkpoints, killing 20 policemen,” provincial governor Bismillah Afghanmal said.

A district official said at least 15 others were wounded in the fighting.

Insurgents also mounted rocket attacks on the governor’s office, the police headquarters and an army brigade in the provincial capital Qalat, officials said.

The insurgents’ strength is growing more than 15 years after they were toppled from national power by the US-led invasion of 2001.

Taliban fighters dressed in army uniforms and armed with suicide vests attacked a military base outside the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif last month, killing 135 policemen and soldiers.

Taliban militants launched their annual “spring offensive” late last month, heralding a surge in fighting as the US tried to craft a new Afghan strategy and Nato considered sending more troops to break the stalemate.

Aid workers, in particular, have increasingly been casualties of a surge in violence recently. Judith D’Souza was held for nearly a month last year and Katherine Jane Wilson for almost a year. – AFP