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Indian casualties in Kabul attack, says envoy

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Indian casualties in Kabul attack, says envoy | Zee News
Last Updated: Thursday, May 14, 2015 - 07:49


Kabul: "A few Indian casualties" are among the people fired upon by suspected Taliban gunmen at a guesthouse in Kabul, the Indian envoy tweeted, with media reports saying that two Indians have been killed in the siege.

"Unfortunately a few Indian casualties among others at the Kabul guesthouse attack today," Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Amar Sinha tweeted.

According to media reports, two Indians are among five people killed in the attack on the Park Palace guesthouse in Kabul on Wednesday night.

Gunmen stormed the Park Palace guesthouse in Kabul`s Kolola Pushta neighbourhood, at around 8:30 pm local time, authorities said.

IANS
 
Taliban attacks Kabul guesthouse, 4 Indians and an American among 14 killed | The Indian Express
Kabul police chief Gen. Abdul Rahman Rahimi said the attack began at 8:30 pm local time Wednesday.


Afghan security forces inspect the site of a Park Palace Hotel attack by Taliban militants, in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Source: AP photo)
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May 14, 2015 8:40 pm
A senior Afghan government official said a total of 14 people were killed when Taliban attackers stormed a Kabul guesthouse on Wednesday night.

Four Indians and an American were among those killed in the Afghan capital thinking that the Indian Ambassador was inside the complex popular among foreign nationals as the attack ended after hours-long siege.

The Keralite who was killed in the terror attack in Kabul was identified as Mathew George, who has been working as an auditor in that city for last three years. Family sources in Kochi said George had called his son, who is working in Pune, on Wednesday to inform about the attack.

George reportedly told his son that he was safe and was hiding under a cot. Later, when the family members in Kochi called him back, there was no response. On Thursday, the family got an official information about the death of George.
The attack started at about 9pm on Wednesday night when three gunmen launched a brazen assault at the Park Palace Guesthouse, located in the Kolola Pushta area of the Kabul city.

Soon after the gunmen stormed the guest house, Afghan National Security Forces including Special Forces arrived and began striking back the attackers and also rescuing those under siege inside the guest house.



“Four Indians have been killed in the attack,” officials sources told PTI.

There was no clarity over the overall death toll apart from the confirmation that four Indians and an American were among the dead. At least six people were also wounded in the attack.

President Ashraf Ghani’s special envoy for good governance Ahmad Zia Massoud visited the attack scene in
Kabul.

The militants attacked the guesthouse thinking the (Indian) Ambassador (Amar Sinha) was present in the compound, Massoud was quoted as saying by Khaama Press.



Massoud said the assault was likely a political attack but he did not elaborate further, according to the report.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the siege at the guesthouse which was about to host a musical concert.

“The attack was planned carefully to target the party in which important people and Americans were attending,” the militants said in a statement.

When the attack took place, the musical event was due to begin and was to be attended by the Turkish and Indian guests as well Afghan nationals, an Afghan Security official was quoted as saying.

Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi said security forces rescued 54 people from inside the guesthouse.

All three attackers were killed in the siege that lasted for about seven hours, ending in the wee hours of this
morning.

Amar Sinha, India’s ambassador to Afghanistan, said he believed at least six of the hostages were Indian citizens. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Twitter account said he was “concerned about the situation (and) I pray for everyone’s safety.”

Though the exact number of Indians died in the seize was not known, Indian ambassador in Kabul Amar Sinha said there are “a few Indian casualties among others at the Kabul.”

“Unfortunately a few Indian casualties among others at the Kabul g/house attack today,” Sinha tweeted.

United States Embassy in Kabul confirmed the death of one of American national in the attack.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, currently on a three-day visit to China, tweeted last night, “In the aircraft I got news about the attack in Kabul. Am concerned about the situation & I pray for everyone’s safety.”

Kolola Pushta is home to several international guest houses and hotels and is near the Afghan interior ministry.

Today’s brazen assault was reminiscent of two attacks last year on a hotel and a restaurant in which 30 were killed.

Earlier on Thursday, gunmen opened fire at a meeting of Muslim clerics in Helmand, killing at least seven people. The Taliban, ousted from power in 2001, have stepped up attacks since they announced their “spring offensive” last month.

The attacks come a day after a visit to Kabul by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who assured Afghanistan of Islamabad’s full support in its fight against the Taliban.

Afghanistan has experienced a rise in the Taliban attacks as foreign troops plan to withdraw from the war-torn country by the end of the year.

In May last year, the Indian consulate in Herat in western Afghanistan was attacked by four heavily-armed gunmen, who were subsequently killed in an encounter.

In August 2013, a failed bombing against the Indian Consulate in Jalalabad city near the border with Pakistan
killed nine people, including six children. No Indian officials were hurt.

The Indian Embassy in Kabul was attacked twice in 2008 and 2009 that left 75 people dead.

Apart from Salma dam project, India has invested in some major infrastructure projects including the Afghan Parliament building in Kabul.

India’s development assistance programme for Afghanistan currently stands at USD two billion, making it the leading donor nation among all regional countries.
 
India suspects ISI-backed Haqqani network behind attack - The Times of India
May 15, 2015, 07.02 AM IST

NEW DELHI: India is not buying the theory that the Taliban was behind the attack in the Park Palace guesthouse in Kabul on Wednesday. Instead, Indian suspicion points to the Haqqani-LeT network which take instructions directly from the ISI in Pakistan.

"Taliban monitor their attacks minute by minute," said a source. In case of Wednesday night's attack, the Taliban spokesperson sent a claim in an emailed statement the following morning.

In the statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said one of the insurgents' operatives carried out the attack with the aim of killing foreign citizens in retaliation for the US and its allies supporting the Kabul government of President Ashraf Ghani. "The occupying forces should realize that they are not safe from our attacks under any cover or in any location," Mujahid said.

In May 2014, the supposed Taliban attack on the Indian consulate in Herat turned out to have been carried out by LeT. The big attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul in 2008 was also carried out by the Haqqani network, ostensibly under instructions from Pakistan.
 
A coffin containing the body of one of the four Indians killed in a Taliban attack is carried to a waiting ambulance from a special aircraft at Air Force Station Palam in New Delhi.
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