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Two foreigners, one Afghan die in Kabul shoot-out | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Police tape is seen near the site of an attack on foreigners outside an office of the courier company DHL in Kabul October 25, 2008 (REUTERS)


Police tape is seen near the site of an attack on foreigners outside an office of the courier company DHL in Kabul October 25, 2008 (REUTERS)

Police tape is seen near the site of an attack on foreigners outside an office of the courier company DHL in Kabul October 25, 2008 (REUTERS)

KABUL, (Reuters) – Two foreign and one Afghan employees of the international courier company DHL were killed in a shoot-out in the heart of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Saturday, an Interior Ministry official said.

Officials said they did not know the nationality of the victims, nor the motive behind the attack, which comes amid rising violence in Afghanistan and less than a week after a woman British aid worker was killed in another part of Kabul. But it appeared the latest killings may not have been a targeted attack.

“It was an encounter between Afghan guards and foreigners of the company,” an Interior Ministry source said on condition of anonimity.

He said Afghan and foreign employees of the company were being questioned about the incident, but so far there was no information on what may have led to the shoot-out.

A spokesman for DHL in Germany said he was unable to confirm any details of the attack at this stage.

Police at the scene covered the silver sports utility vehicle with plastic sheeting. There was blood on the ground and two bullet holes in the window of the DHL office.

The Iranian embassy lies opposite the site of the attack and headquarters of the national intelligence agency is close by.

The latest attack, the killing of the British aid worker and a number of high profile kidnappings in the Afghan capital in the last week, come after President Hamid Karzai appointed a new interior minister, responsible for policing, in an effort to clean up widespread corruption at the ministry.

An unidentified foreigner reacts as she is consoled at the site of an attack on foreigners outside an office of the courier company DHL in Kabul October 25, 2008 (REUTERS)

An unidentified foreigner reacts as she is consoled at the site of an attack on foreigners outside an office of the courier company DHL in Kabul October 25, 2008 (REUTERS)

An Afghan police officer is seen near bullet holes after a shooting at an international shipping company called DHL in Kabul, Afghanistan, Oct. 25, 2008 (AP)

An Afghan police officer is seen near bullet holes after a shooting at an international shipping company called DHL in Kabul, Afghanistan, Oct. 25, 2008 (AP)