Five UN foreign staff killed in attack in Kabul
Taliban vow more attacks ahead of vote
Taliban militants killed five UN foreign staff in an attack on an international guest-house in Kabul yesterday, deepening concerns about security for a presidential election run-off due in 10 days.
The resurgent Taliban have vowed to disrupt the November 7 run-off as US President Barack Obama weighs whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to fight an insurgency that has reached its fiercest level in eight years.
In another sign of the growing reach of militants, rockets were also fired at a foreign-owned luxury hotel near the presidential palace in the heart of the Afghan capital, forcing more than 100 guests into a bunker, a hotel guest said.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on a visit to neighbouring Pakistan where there were also deadly blasts, confirmed one American working for the world body was among those killed in the UN attack.
“I strongly condemn the cowardly attack today,” Mrs Clinton said in a statement. “The United States remains steadfast in its support for the United Nations and its vital work to help the Afghan people,” she said, adding that 20 Americans had died in Afghanistan in recent days.
In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs condemned the attack in Kabul, saying it was an attempt to disrupt the run-off election and “will not succeed.”
The Taliban said they had targeted the guest-house because of the United Nations’s role in helping organize the run-off.
“We have said that we would attack anyone engaged in the process and today’s attack is just a start,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said in New York that the world body would not be deterred by the attack on its guest house, which he called a “shocking and shameless act.” One foreign woman screamed and sobbed as she limped from the guest-house.