UAE diplomat hurt in Kabul blast

KABUL: A UAE diplomat was slightly injured following a terrorist attack on a hotel in the Afghan capital, according to a source at the UAE Foreign Ministry. Aref Abdullah Al Tinaiji, a third secretary in the UAE Embassy in Kabul, sustained a slight injury as a result of a terrorist attack on Sarina Hotel in Kabul,” the source said. The source indicated that Al Tinaaji, who happened to be in the hotel along with the Embassy’s Charge d’Affaires Mohammed Ahmed Al Othman when the attack happened, was being treated at a Kabul hospital. The source described Al Tinaiji’s health condition as stable. “The Foreign Ministry has informed the family of the injured diplomat and assured them that he was in good health condition,” he said. At least 26 people — including four policemen — are dead and 43 others wounded after two bombers targeted the Afghan parliament on Tuesday, officials said. “The first suicide bomber, a walk-in, blew himself up at the gate of the parliament building,” Sediq Sediqi, Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman said. A bus carrying parliamentary staff was struck by the first bomber, killing and wounding many of the parliament’s civilian staff as they were leaving for home. He said a car bomb went off after security forces gathered in the area to tend to the victims of the first blast. Muhibullah Zir, head of Kabul hospitals’ curative medicine, said 63 people were wounded. That was a downward revision from earlier Health Ministry figures that had ranged between 70 and 78.