Bomb attack injures UAE ambassador to Afghanistan in day of violence

Juma Mohammed Abdullah Al Kaabi and a number of Emirati diplomats were wounded in two explosions which struck the Kandahar governor's guesthouse

UAE ambassador to Afghanistan Juma Mohammed Abdullah Al Kaabi (centre) is pictured here in Kandahar on January 10, 2017, shortly before being injured in a bomb attack on the governor's guesthouse. UAEShow more

The UAE ambassador to Afghanistan was injured in a bomb attack on Tuesday in a day of violence that killed at least 52 people in the Afghan capital and the south of the country.

In the southern city of Kandahar, two explosions inside the heavily guarded governor’s compound killed at least seven people and wounded 18 others, including the UAE ambassador and governor Homayun Azizi. The explosives were hidden inside a sofa.

“[The UAE foreign ministry] is following the heinous terrorist attack on the guesthouse of the Kandahar governor which resulted in the injury of his excellency Juma Mohammed Abdullah Al Kaabi, UAE Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and a number of Emirati diplomats,” the ministry said.

The ambassador was in Kandahar to lay the foundation stone for the UAE-funded Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan orphanage and to sign an agreement with Kardan University for the Emirates to offer scholarships there.

The Kandahar governor’s spokesman, Sameem Khpalwak, was among those wounded in the attack. He said the incident took place during a meeting between senior officials and diplomats from the UAE embassy.

Kandahar police chief Gen Abdul Raziq, one of the most feared anti-Taliban commanders in Afghanistan, was present at the meeting but was unharmed in the attack.

In Kabul, meanwhile, two large bombings near government offices killed at least 38 people, including civilians and military personnel, in the deadliest attack by Taliban insurgents in the capital in months.

Public health ministry official Mohibullah Zeer said another 72 people were wounded in the attack. Interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said a suicide bomber struck first, followed by a car bomb, and that four police officers were among those killed.

The blasts tore through employees exiting a parliament annexe, which houses the offices of MPs, leaving the area littered with bloodied bodies.

“A suicide bomber on foot caused the first explosion, leaving a number of innocent workers killed and wounded,” said Zabi, an injured parliament security guard.

“The second one was a car bomb. The vehicle was parked on the other side of the road and flung me back when it detonated.”

The Taliban, who have been waging a 15-year war against the US-backed government, claimed the midafternoon attack.

Ghulam Faroq Naziri, an MP from the western province of Herat, said another legislator from the same province, Rahima Jami, was wounded.

It appeared to be the deadliest attack in Kabul since July, when two suicide bombers struck a demonstration held by Hazaras, a Shiite Muslim ethnic group, killing 80 people. That attack was claimed by a local ISIL affiliate.

The fighting in Afghanistan tends to taper off during the winter months, when mountain supply routes used by the insurgents become impassable.

Earlier in the day, a suicide bomber on foot also struck in the southern province of Helmand, killing at least seven people, according to General Agha Noor Kemtoz, the provincial police chief. The target of that attack was a guesthouse used by a provincial intelligence official in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, he said.

Those killed include civilian and military personnel, and six others were wounded in the attack, Gen Kemtoz said. A car full of explosives was found nearby.

The Taliban also claimed that attack.

* Reuters, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse