KABUL: The Turkish and Indian embassies were preparing on Wednesday to repatriate the bodies of their nationals killed in a bomb blast in western Afghanistan, in which a Nepalese guard and an Afghan also died.
The four, including Indian Bharat Kumar, were killed on Tuesday when a bomb struck their vehicle in western Farah province. A purported spokesman for remnants of the ousted Taliban regime, now waging an anti-government insurgency, claimed responsibility for the blast.
The bodies were to be flown to the United States air base at Bagram, north of Kabul, an official in the Turkish embassy said. "Today they'll be brought to Bagram air base. Then he will be taken to Turkey, maybe on Thursday," the official said.
He identified the Turk as Opuk Aydin, an engineer for the Kolin road construction company.
The Indian embassy confirmed the death of an Indian but did not give details. An Indian source said he was Bharat Kumar, an engineer with the United States construction firm Louis Berger.
There was no immediate information about the other two.
The scores of foreigners helping Afghanistan to rebuild after decades of war are among targets of Taliban and other insurgents, who usually direct their attacks at people associated with the new government.
In late November an Indian road worker was snatched and later found beheaded in southwestern Nimroz province in an attack for which the Taliban claimed responsibility.
Two Turkish engineers were killed in the country in 2004.
Insurgency-linked violence claimed about 1,700 lives last year, with most of the dead being militants killed by Afghan security forces and foreign troops based here to help them. The toll was more than double that of 2004.
