German confirmed dead in Kabul attack
December 12, 2014
A German Foreign Office spokesman confirmed to reporters on Friday that a German citizen was killed in the suicide attack at a French school in the Afghan capital on Thursday.
"Unfortunately, I must confirm that a German citizen was also killed in yesterday's suicide bombing of a French cultural institution in Kabul," Foreign Office spokesman Martin Schaefer told reporters in Berlin. "As far as I know, the man worked for a local aid organization."
Members of Germany's armed forces, the Bundeswehr, were to send a plane from its base in Mazar-i-Sharif in the north of the country to pick up the body to be flown home.
According to Afghan police, the German was killed when a 16-year-old boy detonated the explosives he was wearing among people watching a play in the school's auditorium. The suicide bomber was also killed. Local police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi told the AFP news agency that at least seven others were wounded. Earlier, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius had spoken of several deaths.
Schäfer also told reporters on Friday that one other German was among those wounded but added that the man's injuries were not serious.
DW correspondent's account
Among those who witnessed the attack was DW correspondent Shadi Khan, who was at the cultural center to watch the play.
In an email to DW, Kahn said the explosion occurred just minutes after the play began.
"The blast was loud enough to shatter the roof of the hall that has a capacity of over 1,000 spectators," he wrote. "Inside the hall, chaos erupted, the hall filled up with smoke and all rushed in various directions to escape."
The Islamist Taliban organization has claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack, saying that the play being performed at the time of the bombing had "desecrated Islamic values" and spread "propaganda against jihad."
This followed an assault outside of Kabul earlier in the day in which a suicide attacker killed himself and six Afghan soldiers. The Taliban also claimed responsibility for that attack.
pfd/es (dpa, AFP)