New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday pledged UN determination to carry on with its activities in Afghanistan despite the attack that killed up to 12 people in a raid on a UN guest house by Taliban. "We will never be deterred by this kind of attack," Ban said in a news conference. He said safety and security of UN personnel in Afghanistan will be strengthened to allow them to continue their various works.
The UN guest house in the Afghan capital Kabul was occupied by 25 employees at the time of the attack, including a team of 17 people involved in assisting the Kabul government in organizing the second round of presidential vote on November 7.
The UN in New York said five UN staffers were killed and another nine were injured.
In Kabul, UN spokesman Aleem Siddique said six foreign staff members of the UN were killed. A US national working for the UN was among the dead, a US embassy statement said.
All told, the 11 or 12 dead included five or six UN workers, two Afghan security officers, the three attackers and a bystander.
The deaths of the security officers and attackers in the explosion and ensuing firefight were confirmed by Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada, head of the criminal investigation department of the Kabul police.
A civilian watching the combat from the second floor of his house died when a bullet struck him in the head, Sayedzada said.
"I am deeply shocked and outraged by the cowardly attack on a guest house in central Kabul today," Ban said in a statement.
"I condemn in the strongest possible terms the despicable and brutal killing, for which the Taliban has claimed responsibility in an apparent effort to disrupt the second round of the presidential election."
Ban sent his "deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims who were viciously killed as they sought to serve the people of Afghanistan."
Turning to the November 7 run-off elections, Ban said all preparations are in place "to minimize fraud."
"If the first round showed anything, it was that fraud does not win," he said. "It merely undermines the legitimacy of the results."
He urged both Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his rival, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, to uphold Afghan law and its constitution.
