UAE’s ambassador to Afghanistan dies of bomb attack wounds

The ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Afghanistan died on Wednesday of wounds sustained in a bomb attack in Kandahar last month that also killed five Emirati aid workers, the UAE’s ministry of presidential affairs announced.

“With great sadness and sorrow, we mourn the martyr of the nation and his duty, the righteous son Juma Mohammed Abdullah al-Kaabi, who gave his pure soul for the sake of humanity,” the ministry said in a statement quoted by official news agency WAM.

Five Emiratis killed in Kandahar bomb attack

More than a dozen Afghan and foreign officials were killed in the attack, when a bomb hidden under a couch in the Kandahar governor’s residence, exploded. Afghan authorities have blamed it on the Taliban and Pakistani intelligence services.

However the Taliban has denied responsibility, instead accusing “covert intelligence circles” close to the government of carrying out the attack to damage relations between the insurgents and a friendly Arab government. No claim of responsibility has been made.

Read more: Taliban seeks to reassure UAE over Afghanistan attack