New Delhi
5 June 2008
One Indian national was killed and four Indians injured in a suicide attack in
Nimroz province of Afghanistan on Thursday. The incident took place during the
movement of a convoy of BRO personnel who are engaged in the construction of the
Zaranj -- Delaram highway.
The deceased was identified as Mr Dev Kumar, an Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)
constable. Four other Indian nationals, Mr Ramesh Kumar, Mr Onkar Nath, Mr Sandeep
Nath and Mr Pradeep Singh, were injured in the attack. They were receiving medical
attention at the headquarters of the road project.
"We regret to convey that in a terrorist attack today on our road project in Afghanistan an
ITBP Constable Dev Kumar was killed," the spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs
said in a statement issued here late on Thursday evening.
"Our deepest condolences and sympathies are with the families of the victims of this
attack," the spokesman said.
Condemning the attack, the spokesman iterated New Delhi will remain engaged in the
reconstruction of Afghanistan.
"We strongly condemn this latest act of terrorism on a project being executed for the
development of Afghanistan. Such acts will not deter us from fulfilling our humanitarian
commitments," the spokesman added.
The Indian Embassy in Kabul was closely monitoring the situation. Giving details about
the incident, a source at the Indian Embassy in Kabul told this newspaper the vehicle-
borne suicide attack took place in Afghanistan's south-western province of Nimroz
sometime in the afternoon.
Thursday's suicide attack is the latest in a series of incidents targeted at Indians living
in Afghanistan. On April 22, armed gunmen abducted Sarang Mohammad Naeem and a
Nepalese national from Herat province of Afghanistan. Naeem and the Nepalese national
were released last month, after nearly a month in captivity.
Naeem's abduction was the third incident this year of attacks involving Indians in
Afghanistan. It came less than a fortnight after suicide bombers blew themselves up, on
April 12, near Minar town in Nimroz province, killing Border Roads Organisation (BRO)
personnel MP Singh and C Govindaswamy and injuring five other Indian workers.
On January 3, 2008, a suicide bomber ambushed a BRO convoy, killing ITBP personnel
Manoj Kumar Singh and Desha Singh. In 2006, a telecom engineer Suryanarayana was
abducted and shot dead by the Taliban. In 2005, the Taliban abducted and killed a BRO
driver Maniappan Raman Kutty.
Taliban has been opposed to India's engagement in development and reconstruction
work in Afghanistan and have issued threats in the past. India, which has committed over
$ 850 million for reconstruction work, is the fifth largest bilateral donor in Afghanistan
after the US, Britain, Japan and Germany.
About 400 BRO personnel are engaged in construction of the 218-kilometre road from
Zaranj to Delaram to facilitate movement of goods and commodities from Afghanistan to
Iranian border. It is being built as part of India's assistance programme for
reconstruction of Afghanistan.
On June 12, an international conference will be held in Paris, which will bring
Afghanistan's leading donor nations together. India is among several countries invited to
the conference.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi will make a day-long visit
to Kabul on Friday for talks with the Afghan leadership on matters of bilateral interest and
regional and international issues.
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