Five UAE officials were among 56 people killed in a string of deadly bombings in three Afghan cities, AFP reported Wednesday (January 11th).
The Emiratis were among 13 people killed when explosives hidden in a sofa detonated inside the governor's compound in southern Kandahar on Tuesday, while the UAE's ambassador to Afghanistan escaped the attack with injuries.
Just hours before, twin Taliban blasts in Kabul tore through a parliament annex, which houses the offices of lawmakers, killing at least 36 people and wounding around 80 others.
And earlier Tuesday, a Taliban suicide bomber killed seven people in Lashkar Gah, the capital of volatile Helmand province.
Kandahar's governor Humayun Azizi and UAE envoy Juma Mohammed Abdullah al-Kaabi were wounded by flames from the explosion, but many others were burned beyond recognition, said provincial police chief Abdul Raziq, who was present when the blast occurred.
"This terrorist attack happened at a time when the ambassador and a number of UAE diplomats in Afghanistan were on a trip to Kandahar to lay the foundation stone of an orphanage," the Afghan foreign ministry said.
President Ashraf Ghani condemned the bombing and ordered an investigation led by Afghanistan's National Security Council chief Hanif Atmar.
The Taliban denied responsibility for the Kandahar attack, but claimed the Kabul blasts.
