PM calls Kabul attack ‘cowardly’

OTTAWA— Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has condemned the bombing that killed 14 Nepalese security guards en route to the Canadian Embassy in Afghanistan as “appalling and cowardly.”

The Canadian Embassy in Kabul confirmed Monday that the guards were on their way there when the bombing occurred, but said there had been no attack on its embassy premises.

“Today’s attack on security workers in Kabul is appalling and cowardly,” Trudeau tweeted.

“Our thoughts are with the victims as we stand with the Afghan people.”

The Afghan Interior Ministry confirmed that all 14 killed were Nepalese citizens, describing Monday’s attack as the work of a “terrorist suicide bomber.”

It said the explosion also injured nine people, five Nepalese employees and four Afghan civilians.

Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion also came forward Monday to condemn the attack.

“Many of the victims have been part of our embassy family for years and they will be remembered for their service in the protection of the men and women at the Embassy of Canada to Afghanistan,” Dion said in a statement.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a bomb rigged to a motorbike killed 10 civilians and wounded 40 others during morning rush hour in a busy market in a province in the northeast.

And, later Monday in Kabul, a second Taliban bombing killed a civilian and wounded five people, including a provincial council member.

In a statement from the presidential palace in the capital, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said that “terrorists do not hesitate to kill people even during the holy month of Ramadan” and that they are seeking to “create fear among the people.”