Nine Nepali workers were wounded in a Taliban bomb and gun assault on their base in the Afghan capital Kabul on Thursday, the Nepali Embassy in New Delhi said.

The injured Nepalis were working for G4S, one of the world’s largest security groups that guards the area around the British embassy in Kabul.

Deputy Chief of Mission at the Nepali Embassy in New Delhi, Bharat Kumar Regmi said six of the injured Nepalis have been badly wounded but are out of danger. He said they are undergoing treatment at various hospitals and their status and identity have been established. They have sustained burns, bullet and shrapnel injuries in their abdomen, legs and head.

According to media reports, five people were killed and thirty-two others including 9 Nepalis were injured in the attack. The Afghan interior ministry said Gunmen stormed the compound after a car bomb was detonated outside, sparking a fierce gun battle that left dozens injured.

Charlie Burbridge, managing director of G4S Risk Management Group, told the BBC that the “unprovoked, criminal attack” left 32 of its employees injured, five of them seriously.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. The injured are Tara Bahadur Rai, of Shiddharthanagar-2, Rupa-ndehi; Tej Prasad Acharya, of Damak-14, Jhapa; Durga Prasad Uprety of Indrapur-8, Morang; Bir Bahadur Thapa Magar, of Nilkantha VDC-2, Dhading; Shyam Kumar Thapa Magar of Balkhu-14, Kathmandu; Laxman Thumbahangphe of Sabla-1, Tehrathum; Pemba Sherpa of Sanghu-9, Taplejung; Dal Bahadur Thapa of Chauthe-14, Pokhara, Kaski; and Prakash Thapa of Rupakot-6, Tanahun.

On July 26, 12 Nepali security guards working for the Canadian embassy were killed when a Taliban suicide bomber blew a minibus they were travelling on in Kabul.

Published on: 1 December 2018 | The Kathmandu Post