http://www.hindustantimes.com/world...news-agency/story-VhmZ8cDLs4eO02bUPiwtWN.html
Five officials from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were among the dead in a bombing in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, the Emirates’ official WAM news agency said on Wednesday.
The officials were “on a mission to carry out humanitarian, educational and development projects”, the news agency said.
UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan ordered three days of mourning “in honour of the martyrs who gave their lives in defence of humanitarian causes”, it added.
The blast, which struck the provincial governor’s office during a visit by the UAE delegation, was one of
a string of bombings that hit three Afghan cities on Tuesday, killing some 50 people and wounding 100.
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 and UAE envoy Juma Mohammed Abdullah Al Kaabi were wounded by flames from the explosion, but many others were burned beyond recognition, provincial police chief Abdul Raziq told AFP.
He said a dozen people were killed and an equal number wounded. No militant group has so far claimed responsibility.
Taliban insurgents have escalated their campaign of violence in Afghanistan in recent days, even as winter takes hold.
The assault on the UAE delegation was unusual. In the past the Emirates have had good relations with the Taliban.
When the militant group held power in Kabul between 1996 and 2001, Abu Dhabi was one of just three governments that recognised it.
Updated: Jan 11, 2017 15:22 IST
Rezaul H Laskar
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
A view of the guesthouse after a bomb blast in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on January 11, 2017. The United Arab Emirates said five of its diplomats were killed in the bombing in southern Afghanistan the day before, the deadliest attack to ever target the young nation's diplomatic corps. (AP)
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world...d-al-nahyan/story-J5a5TM5s57srNsyJbICvuN.html
A brazen attack on UAE diplomats in the Afghan city of Kandahar has triggered speculation of a possible link to the upcoming visit of UAE crown prince Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to India to be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade.
The attack on Tuesday night killed 11 people, including five diplomats from the United Arab Emirates, and injured the country’s envoy to Kabul, Juma Mohammed Abdullah Al Kaabi.
Afghan commentators were quick to note that the attack came days before Al Nahyan is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi to participate in the Republic Day celebrations. There is tremendous symbolism attached to the visit as a contingent from the UAE Armed Forces will march with Indian troops during the Republic Day parade.
The UAE has strengthened security and defence cooperation with India in recent years. Since late 2015, some 10 Indian supporters of the Islamic State have been deported by the UAE. This enhanced cooperation is believed to have caused heartburn in Islamabad.
The Taliban, which has a strong presence in Kandahar, a province that once served as the capital of the militant group, have told the Afghan media that they had no role in Tuesday night’s attack. Commentators also noted that the UAE was one of only three countries to recognise the Taliban government in the 1990s.
Kandahar’s police chief
Gen Abdul Raziq on Wednesday accused the Pakistan-based Haqqani Network and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency of plotting the deadly attack. Former National Directorate of Security (NDS) chief Amrullah Saleh said on Twitter that an investigation would show a Pakistani link to the attack.
“The possible involvement of the ISI in this attack cannot be ruled out. The ISI has often used attacks in Afghanistan as a sort of messaging towards India,” said an Indian security official who did not want to be named.
This would not be the first time that Pakistan-backed militants have targeted India or India-related interests in Afghanistan. In May 2014, militants attacked the
Indian consulate in Herat three days before the swearing-in of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Though the attackers, believed to be from the Lashkar-e-Taiba, were killed, officials later said they had intended to take hostages at the consulate in a bid to embarrass Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who attended the inauguration in New Delhi.
In January last year, terrorists tried to storm the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif at about the same time that Jaish-e-Mohammed operatives struck the Indian airbase at Pathankot. The attackers in Mazar-e-Sharif left messages scrawled in blood before they were killed, one of which read “Revenge for Afzal Guru”.
Guru was convicted and executed for his role in the 2001 Parliament attack that too was blamed on JeM.
Even by the standards of a country that saw hundreds killed in terror attacks last year, Tuesday was a particularly brutal day for Afghanistan. Besides the attack in Kandahar, suicide attackers struck near a NDS office in Lashkargah and outside the Parliament in Kabul, killing a total of 45 people.
