Two DHL Employees Killed In Afghanistan

Private Guard Kills Briton, S. African Before Shooting Himself In Front Of Company's Office In Kabul

(AP)  A private guard working for the international shipping company DHL opened fire and killed the company's country director and his deputy on Saturday before turning the gun on himself, officials said.

The shootings took place in front of the DHL office in downtown Kabul. One Briton and one South African were killed in the attack, the British Foreign Office and South African government said.

A preliminary investigation found that one of the Afghan security guards protecting the DHL compound opened fire on the car carrying the two victims when it pulled into the company headquarters, said Mirza Mohammad Yarmal, the Interior Ministry official in charge of criminal investigations.

The guard then put the barrel of his Kalishnikov rifle to his head and killed himself, Yarmal said.

Blood was splattered over the vehicle's windshield and pooled on the ground in front of DHL headquarters.

Yarmal said the guard had been hired only about a month ago from an area north of Kabul where Pashtuns — the ethnic group the Taliban draws its fighters from — lives. But he said police had no conclusive evidence linking the guard to the insurgent militia.

A Taliban spokesman denied that the militia was involved in the attack.

Afghan officials say the circumstances surrounding the incident are not yet clear. Police arrested 13 people after the shooting, including DHL guards and employees, said Zemeri Bashary, the Interior Ministry spokesman.

DHL's headquarters are located across the street from the Iranian Embassy and close to Afghanistan's intelligence service. The area is considered a relatively secure part of the city.

Gerold Beck, a DHL spokesman at its headquarters in Bonn, Germany, said the company was working with authorities to "clarify the situation." He declined to comment further.

The attack follows the slaying in Kabul of a dual South African-British citizen aid worker, Gayle Williams, 34, by gunmen earlier in the week. The Taliban immediately claimed responsibility for that shooting, saying the woman had been proselytizing.

Security has deteriorated around Afghanistan in the last two years, although violence against Westerners in the capital has been relatively rare until recent weeks.

But the security mood in Kabul has soured dramatically following a rash of kidnappings and security warnings.

International security companies on Saturday warned their clients in Kabul about intelligence indicating that militants were planning a large-scale attack on a restaurant frequented by Westerners.

Meanwhile, Turkey's foreign minister confirmed that three Turkish nationals working on a communications project were kidnapped in the eastern province of Khost on Thursday.

Speaking at a joint news conference in Kabul with visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta said officials believe the two were abducted by a criminal gang. Afghan intelligence officials and the provincial governor were working to resolve the issue, Spanta said.

In the southern province of Ghazni, governor's spokesman Ismail Jahangir said two aid workers from Bangladesh were kidnapped Thursday.

[cdfoxtrot4]

If you drop a cluster bomb on a village in Pakistan every time this happens - it will stop happening.

Posted by Neo269

Great idea, numbnuts. NOT. Good thing your side is about to lose power.

[palin08o8]

You know what I changed my mind about Obama! I think he will be better for national security and the economy!

Plus sarah palin $150,000.00 on clothes, most Americans could have bought a home for that amount!

Besides I think Sarah Palin is really a Terrorist

Breaking News: The Terrorist Group AKA Alaska Independent party Calling on Russia to help secede from the Union
www.chilitoz.com
Extremists Mark Chryson and Steve Stoll former leaders of the Alaska Terrorist group AKA Independence Party and friends of Sarah Palin are calling on Russia to help them gain independence from the United States.

Watch video of Sarah palin addressing The Alaska Terrorist Group also known as The Independence party. They are calling for a civil war against the mainland.
www.chilitoz.com

[freckster]

I look at stories like this one and wonder what Europe is saying about the same thing.

Posted by hennighg

You don''t need to wonder. Just surf the web outside your comfort zone. There is a world of news, English language versions, originating from a whole variety of countries. Including those who are sympathetic and not, towards the US and/or "our" Bush policies.

[nwihoosier]

Peace and Love
Hennipig are you NUTS? All evidence says you are.
Peace and Love

[hennighg]

I don''t know if anyone remembers 5 years ago, when 3 contractors were kidnapped and then killed. But they were mercenaries, not just contractors. The propaganda the media has agreed to in order to be "embedded" leaves we wondering. The media is owned, after all, by the rich, right-wing, conservative, christian-sympathizers. Edward R. Murrow would be ashamed. So I look at stories like this one and wonder what Europe is saying about the same thing.

[missingamerica]

Neo269, that is the attitude (save targeted at Afghan villages not Pakistani ones) that caused the Mujahideen to go from a fringe organization to an all out general uprising in the early 80''s.

Posted by clgl_fubar at 12:59 PM : Oct 25, 2008

Waste of time.

You have to speak the Republican language, because they do not understand "hearts and minds" or why killing and maiming people for no good reason is a bad idea.

Hey, Neo269:

Each CBU87 combined effects munition costs about $20,000. Add another $5,000 or more in JP-5 to get it there. You are blowing $25,000 or more dropping bombs indiscrimately to no strategic or tactical effect.

If the military wasted money like you want them to, we would have to raise taxes to buy more cluster bombs.

And you wouldn''t want that, would you? That might stop you from buying that fourth Benz.

[hdstretch]

That makes sense. Bomb Pakistan for what the Afghan did. They should like, maybe put you in charge of something important there. Like, looking after the poppy fields or something.

[neo269]

If you drop a cluster bomb on a village in Pakistan every time this happens - it will stop happening.