KABUL (Dispatches) – The United Arab Emirates says five of its diplomats have lost their lives in a massive bomb explosion that ripped through a guesthouse in the troubled southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
According to the UAE’s state-run WAM news agency, the victims were reportedly in the violence-wracked country to inaugurate a number of UAE-backed projects there.
An unnamed Afghan source said the explosives had been placed in sofas in the meeting room of the guesthouse, where a group of high-ranking Afghan officials had gathered to welcome the UAE ambassador.
The ambassador was in Kandahar to lay the foundation stone for an orphanage and to sign an agreement to offer scholarships in the UAE.
UAE Ambassador Juma Mohammed Abdullah Al Kaabi and Kandahar Governor Homayun Azizi were among the wounded.
Kandahar police chief General Abdul Raziq was also present at the meeting, but escaped unharmed.
Yama Quraishi, an Afghan diplomat in the United States, was also among those killed.
The UAE Foreign Ministry issued a statement, stressing that it is following up on the "heinous terrorist attack” and has set up a special operations room in conjunction with UAE armed forces and the Afghan government.  
At least 11 people, including Kandahar’s deputy governor Abdul Ali Shamsi, lost their lives and 16 others sustained injuries when a powerful bomb explosion struck the heavily-guarded governor’s compound on Tuesday evening.
Emirati Prime Minister, Vice President and Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum also condemned the bombing in a post published on his official Twitter account, saying, "There is no human, moral or religious justification for the bombing and killing of people trying to help” others.
The Taliban claimed attacks earlier on Tuesday in Kabul. However, the militant group issued a statement on Wednesday, blaming an "internal local rivalry” for the Kandahar assault.
The Taliban militants lost their grip over Afghanistan in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, but security has never taken hold in the country despite the presence of thousands of foreign boots on Afghan soil.
The Daesh terrorist group is competing with the Taliban in acts of terror. Daesh has claimed responsibility for earlier attacks on Shia events and mosques.