Two Spanish policemen killed in a Taliban attack near the Embassy in Kabul

USPA NEWS - Two Spanish policemen were killed on Friday in Kabul (Afghanistan) as a result of injuries sustained during a Taliban car bomb attack against a guest house in the vicinity of the Embassy of Spain in the Afghan capital.

According to the Spanish Government, the diplomatic mission was not the target of the attack but a guest house adjacent to the Embassy and frequented by American soldiers. By midafternoon Friday, a car bomb exploded and then a violent shootout in which, according to Afghan Government sources, four Afghan policemen and four Taliban terrorists, in addition to the two Spanish agents died broke. The dead policemen were responsible for monitoring the perimeter of the Embassy of Spain in Kabul and were hit by the shock wave from the explosion of the car bomb. Although at first it was reported the death of a Spanish police, after completing the anti-terrorist operation death of a second agent was confirmed.

The dead Spanish agents are the first fatalities since the Spanish troops left Afghanistan last October, after 13 years of mission in the Asian country during which 30,000 troops were mobilized by the Spanish Armed Forces. The Taliban attack was directed against a neighboring house guests with the Embassy of Spain in Kabul, where US soldiers are generally housed. However, at the time of the attack the guest house was empty. Spanish Government sources said that the embassy does not have the distinctive identified, so it is possible that the attackers did not know who had entered the embassy.

The building is located in a high security area of the Afghan capital, where there are other diplomatic missions as the United States, China, United Kingdom and Russia, as well as the headquarters of NATO and the Afghan presidential palace. Not the first time that the guesthouse is the subject of a terrorist attack. In 2009, another car bomb exploded and caused damage to the Embassy of Spain, but caused no casualties.

The news of the attack shook the Spanish electoral campaign for the legislative elections of December 20, this Friday drew to Ecuador. The Prime Minister and candidate for re-election by the conservative Popular Party (PP), Mariano Rajoy, was promptly informed while he was at a meeting in Murcia (southwest Spain) and transmitted to the family of police his "affection, feeling and affection" and the Police and Civil Guard supported by the Spaniards. The death of the second agent was known at dawn.

Rajoy announced the news of the attack and the death of the agent to the Spanish King Philip VI, who sent a telegram of condolence to the family of police. He also spoke with the head of the opposition candidate of the Socialist Party (PSOE), Pedro Sanchez, as well as with leaders of the centrist party Citizens, Albert Rivera, and the populist Podemos, Pablo Iglesias. The PP suspended its election campaign activities after hearing the news as a sign of mourning. The bodies of those killed in the attack agents will be repatriated to Spain in the coming days.