DUBAI — The United Arab Emirates said on Wednesday that five of its diplomats were killed in a bombing in southern Afghanistan the day before, the deadliest attack to ever target the young nation’s diplomatic corps.
The UAE said it would immediately fly the nation’s flag at half-staff for three days in honor of the dead from the attack Tuesday in Kandahar, which killed at least 11 people.
Meanwhile, the Taliban denied planting the bomb in the Kandahar attack, which also wounded the UAE ambassador to Afghanistan.
Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the UAE prime minister and vice president, said on Twitter that “there is no human, moral or religious justification for the bombing and killing of people trying to help” others.
Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said the attack wouldn’t stop UAE’s humanitarian efforts.
“We will not be discouraged by despicable terrorist acts carried out by the forces of evil and darkness,” he said on Twitter.
The Kandahar attack targeted a guesthouse of provincial Gov. Homayun Azizi, who was also wounded in the assault, along with UAE Ambassador Juma Mohammed Abdullah Al-Kaabi.
The attack killed 11 people and wounded 18, said Gen. Abdul Razeq, Kandahar’s police chief who was praying nearby at the time of the blast.
Razeq said investigators believe someone hid the bomb inside a sofa at the guesthouse.
He said an ongoing construction project at the guesthouse may have allowed militants to plant the bomb.
