2 Bangladeshis among 9 killed in Kabul

At least nine people, including two Bangladeshis, died in an attack on a 5-star hotel in Kabul at the weekend. One of the Bangladesh nationals killed in the gun attack was identified by Bangladesh's permanent representative to the UN, Dr AK Abdul Momen, as Wasim Zaman, who was heading a Malaysia-based NGO in Afghanistan. The identity of the other Bangladeshi died in the deadly attack could not be known immediately. According to New York Times Luis María Duarte, a former Paraguayan diplomat, and Sardar Ahmad, a prominent Afghan journalist, are among the nine dead. The other dead in the attack included two children and their mother, wife of Sardar Ahmad. Thursday's attack on Kabul's Serena Hotel shattered the illusions of the luxury hotel as one of the few remaining safe havens for the rich or foreigners in the Afghan capital, and the fallout was swift. The New York Times (NYT) narrated the incident indicating one of the terrorists – His handgun drawn, the clean-cut insurgent stood in the restaurant of the hotel, listening to the mother of three as she begged, "Take my life, but please don't kill my kids." Her pleading made no difference. As frightened hotel staff members watched from the kitchen, the young militant shot the children first before killing their mother, some of the first casualties inflicted by four suspected Taliban attackers who rampaged through the hotel. Besides, the terrorists also shot dead a Canadian national whose identity too could not be gathered, according to a private news agency of Bangladesh and NYT.