DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The United Arab Emirates announced on Wednesday that five of its diplomats were killed in a bombing in southern Afghanistan the day before, one of the worst attacks to target the young nation's diplomatic corps. Meanwhile, the Taliban denied planting the bomb in the Kandahar attack, which also wounded the UAE ambassador to Afghanistan. Kandahar's governor Humayun Azizi and UAE envoy Juma Mohammed Abdullah Al Kaabi were wounded by flames from the explosion, but many others were burned beyond recognition, said provincial police chief Abdul Raziq, who was at the scene when the blast occurred. pic.twitter.com/jeKYl9cxHu — UAE EMBASSY KABUL (@uaeembassykabul) January 10, 2017

Elsewhere on Tuesday, two suicide blasts claimed by the Taliban near Afghanistan's parliament in Kabul killed at least 30 people and wounded 80. The United Arab Emirates' ambassador to Afghanistan Jumuah Mohammed Abdullah al-Kabi and other UAE diplomats were injured in an attack that took place Tuesday in Kandahar, according to a statement issued by the UAE's Foreign Ministry. The Marines will head to the poppy-growing province this spring to assist a NATO-led mission to train Afghan forces, in the latest sign that foreign forces are increasingly being drawn back into the worsening conflict.
At least 11 people are killed in a bombing in Kandahar, including five UAE diplomats.