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| Afghanistan | |
| Two Britons among at least 21 killed in Kabul restaurant attack | |
| 2014-01-19 | |
The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and three other staff of the UN were also killed in the attack on Friday evening, along with the Lebanese restaurant owner and several Afghanis and two Canadians, situated in a well-protected district in Kabul where most foreign workers live and work. A suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to the restaurant, killing guards and destroying defences and allowing two gunmen to enter and open fire. The Foreign Office named one of the British victims as Dhamender Singh Phangurha, who is better known as Del Singh, a Labour candidate for the European elections. The other Briton has been named as Simon Chase from county Londonderry, who was the bodyguard of a Danish, female police officer who was also killed. A spokesperson said she did not believe there were any other British injuries. The Canadian foreign affairs minister, John Baird, said two Canadians died in the attack while the US state department said two Americans were killed. None of the four worked for their national governments or armies. Kabul police chief Mohammad Zahir said the victims included 13 foreigners and eight Afghans; two Britons, two Canadians, a Dane, a Russian, two Lebanese, a Somali-American and a Pakistani. At least four people were wounded and about eight Afghans, mostly the kitchen staff, survived. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in reprisal for an Afghan military operation earlier in the week against insurgents in eastern Parwan province, which they said killed many civilians. “The target of the attack was a restaurant frequented by high-ranking foreigners,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an emailed statement. He said the attack targeted a place “where the invaders used to dine with booze and liquor in the plenty.” The restaurant’s popular owner, Lebanese citizen Kamal Hamade, was among the dead. “VV sad news Kabul. Our dear Lebanese friend Kamal, the kindest of hosts, was killed in Taliban attack,” BBC journalist Lyse Doucet said on Twitter. The IMF said their country head, Lebanese citizen Wabel Abdallah, had worked in Afghanistan since 2008. The attack will make life increasingly difficult for the foreign agencies, both private and governmental, who administer billions of pounds of aid and development projects in Afghanistan. Most international staff are subject to elaborate security arrangements and defences which the Taliban have demonstrated can be neutralised when they want. It is possible they will decide that the risks are too great for foreign staff, and end or reduce their projects. The Taverna restaurant was a popular venue usually busy on a Friday. It had armed guards and an air-lock entry system of steel gates, but those precautions would have been little match for a heavily armed suicide squad. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |