KABUL, (Reuters) – Taliban militants killed five U.N. 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 Nov. 7 run-off as U.S. 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.
U.S. 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 U.N. attack.
“I strongly condemn the cowardly attack today,” 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 said the attack in Kabul 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 told Reuters by telephone.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in New York that the world body would not be deterred by the attack, which he called a “shocking and shameless act.” Nine people were also wounded, the U.N. said.
One foreign woman screamed and sobbed as she limped from the guest-house. Onlookers and police carried another victim away using a blanket as a stretcher.
“It doesn’t look good in there,” a U.N. medic, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters at the scene.
The United Nations, which has operated in Afghanistan for more than half a century, said it would review security measures following the attack.
Aid groups working in Kabul also said they would take extra precautions during the election period. “We think it is very important that humanitarian workers are protected,” said Save the Children director of international operations, Greg Ramm.
The nationalities of most of the U.N. staff killed in the Kabul guest-house attack were unclear. The sound of gunfire and sirens echoed across the capital for hours.
