Suicide bombers’ attack on Red Cross is war’s first

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Rahmat Gul | Associated Press

An Afghan policeman walks from the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross building in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

 

By  Azam Ahmed

The New York Times Thursday May 30, 2013 5:21 AM

KABUL, Afghanistan — In a shock to humanitarian aid workers, suicide bombers in eastern Afghanistan yesterday assaulted the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross, an organization that has worked in the country for more than 30 years without suffering a concerted attack and has received praise from all sides.

Security forces managed to evacuate all seven Western employees working in the Jalalabad compound, with only one injured, the provincial police said. One guard was killed and another wounded when one of the attackers blew himself up at the entrance to the compound, which caught fire after the blast. The other two attackers also died in the assault. The compound was surrounded by Afghan forces during and after the attack, police officials said.

The violence came as a shock to the Red Cross, which said it was the first time its offices had been attacked since it arrived in Afghanistan more than 30 years ago. In addition to aiding injured Afghan civilians of all political persuasions, the agency ferries messages to imprisoned Taliban detainees from their families, a service the Taliban praised in a June 2012 statement.

“The ICRC is providing valuable services by delivering letters to the prisoners and informing the families about their health condition, which is really a humanitarian service,” the statement said. It added that the Taliban condemned the torture and killings of Red Cross workers in Afghanistan and abroad, “because it is an impartial organization and works throughout the world for the needy, helpless and oppressed people.”

Although the Red Cross offices are patrolled byuards, the guards are not armed. “We do not travel with armed guards or armored vehicles since we are a neutral organization,” said Abdul Haseeb Rahimi, a Red Cross spokesman.

Rahimi was reluctant to lay blame for the attack, saying it was not clear yet whether the Red Cross was the intended target. The Indian Consulate and other international aid agencies are near the compound, where plumes of black smoke could be seen rising into the evening as the attack raged on. The Taliban did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack.

Militants have now struck two aid organizations in a week, raising the targets of the summer fighting season to include more than just Afghan and coalition armed forces.

 

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