The alleged perpetrator of the attack against a group of tourists in Afghanistan that left six people dead—three of them Catalan—and eight injured, had been under surveillance by the Afghan authorities, who had already detained him three months ago, reported the Afghan media Almirsad, close to Taliban intelligence.
According to security sources cited by Almirsad, the attacker, who has already been detained by the authorities, was a man who had been under suspicion and surveillance by the security forces for supposedly belonging to a foreign intelligence agency, and was detained for a few days. three months ago for this same reason.
His capture occurred moments after the attack in the city of Bamiyan, in central Afghanistan, which resulted in the death of three Afghans and three Spaniards, and left eight injured, including a Spanish citizen.
Initially the aggressor tried to hide among the crowd of the market where the attack occurred, and after an armed confrontation in which he suffered injuries to his hand, according to Almirsad, he was detained and a Kalashnikov rifle and two magazines were seized from his hiding place.
At the moment the Taliban have reported the arrest of seven suspects, but have not given details about whether one of them was responsible for the shooting at the tourists.
According to the Taliban version, the attack took place around 6:00 p.m. local time (1:30 p.m. GMT) on Friday in the Bamiyan bazaar, when a group of unidentified men opened fire on a vehicle in which the Taliban were traveling. foreign.
The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, told EFE yesterday that the Spaniards who survived the shooting observed how a person came out of an alley and shot “very clearly” at the group of tourists.
The two Spaniards who were unharmed in the attack are now out of the country, sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have reported.
One left this morning, while the second, who was not injured in the attack, left the country hours later after deciding to stay there for a longer time “due to his desire” to carry out “some personal matters.”
Meanwhile, the Spanish ambassador, Ricardo Losa, has already arrived in Kabul, who resides in Doha (Qatar) since Spain closed its embassy in August 2021 after the Taliban came to power for security reasons. Along with him, another diplomat from the Embassy in Pakistan has also done so.
Both have arrived in the country to help the survivors of the attack as well as to arrange the repatriation of the bodies of the three deceased. According to Foreign Affairs, they will remain in the country as long as necessary “until everyone leaves the country and all the bodies are repatriated.”
