Nepal to fly home bodies of 12 killed in Kabul attack

The Nepalese government has decided to dispatch an aircraft to Afghanistan to bring home the remains of 12 Nepali nationals killed in the Kabul suicide bombing on Monday.

A meeting of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli and the cabinet ministers on Tuesday morning decided to send a Nepal Airlines aircraft to Kabul to bring the mortal remains home, Oli's Press Advisor Pramod Dahal told Xinhua news agency.

Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa, who is also in charge of foreign affairs, said the government has made preparations to send an aircraft to Kabul to bring home the injured and the caskets of the Nepalis killed in the attack.

The Nepali nationals were working as security guards with the Kabul-based Canadian embassy, and were hired out by Sabre International, a British security consultancy firm.

At least seven Nepali security guards working with the Canadian embassy were also injured in the terror attack.

At least 14 guards -- 12 Nepali and two Indians -- were killed and nine persons were injured after a suicide bomber struck a minibus in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Monday.

Meanwhile, Acting Nepali Ambassador in Islamabad Tirtha Raj Aryal has reached Kabul to initiate the process to send home the mortal remains of the Nepali nationals.

Nepal does not have diplomatic mission in Kabul and its Islamabad-based envoy is concurrently accredited to Afghanistan.

Bharat Raj Paudyal, a spokesman at the Nepalese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said all the 12 Nepalis killed in the bombing have been identified.

Initially, the Afghan Interior Ministry stated that the 14 killed in the attack were Nepalis. However, during verification it was revealed that two were Indian nationals.

--IANS

py/vt