ForMin Manescu: Romania's Embassy in Kabul was targeted; the Romanian died to save the others

The attack in Kabul targeted Romania's Embassy there and the Romanian employee who died to save the others was born in 1976 and was part of the security team of the diplomatic mission, Foreign Affairs Minister Ramona Manescu said Tuesday. "It is a tragic moment for Romania, mainly not only for our diplomatic mission there, not only for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, for Romania, because a man died, actually a young man sacrificed his life to save the others, in an effort to combat this terrorist attack. (...) He actually gave his life to save the others. He did his duty until the last moment," Ramona Manescu told Antena 3 private television broadcaster. In this respect, she talked about the possibility of the dead Romanian having a national funeral. "He deserves all the honours and all our respect," she said. The head of the Romanian diplomacy said that Romania's Embassy in Kabul was the target of the attack. "Unfortunately, the Embassy was targeted, Romania's mission there. The attack began last night. It was a sustained attack, with bomb cars, with all the devices, as the Taliban terrorists are used to act," she pointed out and described the attack as an "assault." "After they attacked the main building where our colleagues were, they set fire on annex buildings. The place cannot be used anymore," Manescu detailed. The Minister said the team of Romania's Embassy in Kabul was made up of 12 people. At the same time, Manescu said the injured Romanian is "outside any danger, in a stable condition." The Foreign Minister added that, in this situation, the representatives of the Romanian diplomatic mission collaborated with the Romanian Defence Ministry. "We are in contact with the colleagues of Defence. It is with them that we also made the evacuation to the NATO base and we'll probably also make the transfer of our colleagues back home," she explained. Manescu spoke of the security situation in Afghanistan. "It is unbelievable how, still, with all the efforts that Romania and all NATO partners are making in Afghanistan, we still have these terrorist attacks. (...) Now it happened to attack the Romanian mission there, but this situation is a current one," Manescu pointed out. She said the priorities are the repatriation of the embassy employees and finding a space for the diplomatic mission's activity in the future. In this respect, the Foreign Minister spoke of Romania's commitment to anti-terrorist missions. "So much more it is our duty to continue our fight against terrorism and remain by the side of the partners in NATO and in Kabul and in any other place where they need us," Manescu underscored. A representative of the diplomatic mission of Romania in Kabul has died, and another was seriously injured following the terrorist attack that occurred Monday night, in Kabul, Afghanistan, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) informed on Tuesday evening. The injured Romanian citizen is going to be transferred as soon as possible to Europe, depending on the development in his health condition, to benefit from specialised medical assistance, the Romanian Foreign Ministry points out. MAE points out that both the diplomatic mission chief as well as the head of the guard team within the embassy have been evacuated to a near-by military base and are out of any danger. A suicide attack, claimed by the Talibans, took place in the center of the Afghan Capital Kabul, shortly after a meeting between President Ashraf Ghani and U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, devoted to the project of peace accord with the Afghan insurgents, according to the AFP. The attack occurred when the Afghan television was broadcasting an interview with Zalmay Khalilzad, in which he spoke of a possible peace accord with the Talibans. AGERPRES (RO - author: Oana Ghita, editor: Antonia Nita; EN - editor: Adina Panaitescu)