Bombs in food killed UAE envoy
Kandahar governor says it is likely that a cook smuggled explosives into meeting hidden in dishes prepared for diplomats
KABUL // A member of the Kandahar governor’s staff – most probably a cook – smuggled explosives hidden in food into a meeting with Emirati diplomats that killed 13 people, including the UAE ambassador, the governor has told The National.
Hamayoun Azizi was severely injured when the two bombs exploded about three minutes apart inside his residence in January, he said. His account of the attack differs from previous reports, which had the bombs placed under a sofa in the palace meeting room.
“The explosive materials were hidden in the meal, fruits and dishes which entered the hall for the guest to be served,” Dr Azizi said. “Both blasts were inside on the table.”
The governor, who recently returned to his job after months of medical treatment in India and France for the severe burns he suffered, blamed Kandahar’s police and security personnel for their failure to detect the hidden bombs, especially as they usually searched food deliveries to the residence.
“I accept that men were inside among us who prepared the ground for this attack,” Dr Azizi said. “Without their help, it was not possible.”
Afghan officials with Emirati, British and US assistance, have yet to publish the findings of an investigation into the attack, which killed Juma Al Kaabi, the UAE Ambassador to Afghanistan, and five senior Emirati aid workers.
But The New York Times reported last week that a palace cook had been arrested and was suspected of working for the Taliban in the plot that targeted the Kandahari officials.
They included the notorious police chief Gen Abdul Raziq, the most powerful figure in the province and a sworn enemy of the insurgents. Kandahar province has remained under the control of the provincial power brokers who have been able to fend off the Taliban at a time when the militants have successfully driven an offensive across the country.
The Taliban ha ve denied involvement in the attack on the governor’s residence, saying they would not target the UAE.
Kandahar, which is largely outside the control of the central government in Kabul, is ruled by overlapping tribal elites, criminal networks, warlords and provincial officials as well as militants, who control large patronage networks and often resort to violence as they compete over the drugs trade and the cross-border economy with Pakistan.
“Elites collude when mutually beneficial but they are also fiercely, and often violently, competitive,” wrote analyst Ashley Jackson in a research paper for the UK Overseas Development Institute in 2015.
“This violent competition by ostensibly pro-government actors, with political assassinations often confused for, or understood as, Taliban violence, fed the rampant insecurity” in the province.
Gen Raziq, who has been accused of routine human rights abuses against Taliban suspects and rivals during his nearly decade- long tenure, is the most powerful figure in the province. As a leader of the supposedly pro-Kabul Achakzai tribe, he has undermined the rival Noorzai tribe and cut off access to many networks that provide jobs and services.
While observers say Gen Raziq has more recently opened the patronage system to more Kandaharis to try to limit the appeal of the Taliban, since being appointed in 2015 Dr Azizi has promised to reform the patronage system, putting him at odds with his police chief.
Some suspicion has fallen on Gen Raziq because he stepped out of the January 10 meeting three minutes before the first bomb was detonated, Dr Azizi said.
According to a Pakistani official who spoke to , Emirati officials were angered by Gen Raziq’s refusal to submit to questioning by investigators.
“If some say he is involved, I don’t have evidence and awareness because I was out for treatment and not involved in the investigation,” Dr Azizi said.
The 41-year-old father of three is still grappling with the physical and psychological trauma of the terrorist attack. He is a surgeon specialising in burns.
“I remember the guests were relaxed . We were happy, but immediately I heard a very big sound of explosion – it made the hall dark, and smoke filled the hall,” Dr Azizi said.
“I didn’t hear any voice of shouting or sound of help from people in the hall, it was quiet silence.”
With his face and hands burnt and shrapnel in his legs, Dr Azizi said he staggered to a nearby bathroom to put water on his injuries and then went to find guards to help the wounded.
“Less than three minutes later another big explosion happened and it made huge destruction,” he said.
There were no ambulances so he was driven in his own car to the Kandahar hospital, where there were no burn specialists, before being taken to the American military hospital. Soon after he lost consciousness for six days.
Dr Azizi will have to undergo further surgery on his leg, but for now is able to carry out his duties. He has moved his family to Kabul, and said his children were also traumatised and afaid.
“Psychologically I am not well,” he said. “I remember the hall, the blast, the smoke. My friends and colleagues who died are always on my mind.”