People wal past the Park Palace guest house in Kabul where 14 people were killed in a Taliban attack. (Agence France-Presse)
The bodies of four Indians, killed in an attack by the Taliban at a Kabul guest house on Wednesday, will be flown home by a special aircraft today.
The special flight from Delhi will land at around 11 am. The bodies will be flown to Delhi, after which state government resident commissioners will make arrangements to take them to their families. Some family and friends are expected to be present in Delhi.
The gunmen attacked the Park Palace guest house in Kabul's Kolola Pushta area at around 8:30 pm local time on Wednesday. Six Indians were in the building at the time.
Explosions and bursts of gunfire were heard as the gunmen reportedly went from room to room searching for people; witnesses told NDTV that bullets whizzed past them as they hid in their rooms.
A concert by well-known Afghan classical singer Altaf Hussain was about to begin at the guest house when the gunfire started.
Dr Martha Farrell, who worked with the Aga Khan Foundation in Afghanistan and was a Director in PRIA - an international centre for learning and promotion of citizen participation and democratic governance, George Mathew from Ernakulam - a private auditor along with colleague R K Bhatti from Chandigarh, and Dr Satish Chandra a private consultant and international technical consultant with UNDP were killed in the eight-hour long siege.
On April 24, the Afghan Taliban announced their annual spring offensive 'Azm' or 'Perseverence' mocking NATO's 'Resolute Support' mission. Ironically the Taliban statement then said, "...top priority will be given to safeguard and protect the lives and properties of the civilian people." But, the Taliban clearly divide people into those they think are with the government - whether military or civilian - as these 14 civilians found out by paying with their lives.