IMF, UN officials among 21 killed in Kabul suicide attack

21 people including four United Nations staff and the IMF’s top representative in Afghanistan were killed on Friday when a Taliban suicide bomber and gunmen attacked a restaurant popular with foreigners in the Afghan capital.
Gunmen stormed into the restaurant spraying diners with bullets after the bomber blew himself up near the entrance around 7.30 p.m.
Thirteen foreigners were among those killed, according to police.
On Saturday, the U.S. embassy said in a post on Twitter that at least two U.S. private citizens were killed, while Britain and Canada also confirmed they had each lost two nationals.
Periodic bursts of gunfire continued for about an hour after the initial blast, and the two gunmen inside the Lebanese restaurant were shot dead by police, an Afghan official said.
Most foreign forces are preparing to leave Afghanistan this year after more than a decade of war, and there are fears that the Taliban will intensify attacks in the run up to an election in April, when Afghans will choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai.
Karzai is still deliberating whether to allow some U.S. troops to stay on, but if no agreement is reached, Afghan forces could be left to fight the insurgents on their own.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack, calling it revenge for a U.S. airstrike earlier this week that had also drawn condemnation from Karzai as eight civilians were killed.
Shots could be heard ringing across the capital’s diplomatic district for minutes after the first blast.
By midnight, a clearance operation was still underway, with police nervously flashing lasers at passing cars and people on the dark, dusty streets.
The restaurant had been running for several years, and was a favorite haunt for foreigners, including diplomats, contractors, journalists and aid workers.
“The target of the attack was a restaurant frequented by high ranking foreigners… where the invaders used to dine with booze and liquor in the plenty,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an e-mailed statement, written in English.
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) representative in Afghanistan, 60-year-old Lebanese national Wabel Abdallah, was one of the diners killed. He had been leading the Fund’s office in Kabul since 2008.
The United Nations said four staff members had been killed, but did not release their nationalities.
The EU Police Mission in Afghanistan also lost one Danish and one British member of staff. A British Foreign Office spokeswoman said two Britons were killed in the attack.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said two Canadians died, but it was unclear which organization they worked for.
While the U.S. embassy Twitter post specified the dead Americans were private citizens, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said none of the dead included embassy staff.