Afghan militants ambush Western tourists
Print Edition
TALIBAN militants attacked a group of 12 American and European tourists escorted by an Afghan army convoy in western Herat province yesterday, leaving at least seven people wounded as the insurgents step up nationwide attacks.
The tourists — eight British, three Americans and one German — were ambushed by Taliban gunmen in the restive district of Chesht-e-Sharif, while en route from the neighboring provinces of Bamiyan and Ghor.
It is unclear why they were travelling overland at a time when Western embassies typically warn their citizens against all travel in Afghanistan, citing threats of kidnapping and attacks. The foreign tourists — three Americans, eight British citizens and one German — were travelling with an Afghan army convoy when they were ambushed by the Taliban in Chesht-e-Sharif, said Jilani Farhad, the spokesman for Herat’s governor.
He said the insurgents had been repelled and the foreigners were being escorted to Herat city, adding that at least six foreigners and their Afghan driver were left wounded.
The attack comes as Taliban militants intensify their annual summer offensive after a brief lull during the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which ended in early July. Highways in Afghanistan passing through insurgency-prone areas have become exceedingly dangerous, with the Taliban and other armed groups frequently kidnapping or killing travellers.
But that has not stopped some tourists, including foreigners, from travelling to Afghanistan, endowed with stunning landscapes and archaeological sites, many of them in volatile areas prone to the Taliban insurgency.
The Guardian newspaper reported the tourists came to Afghanistan with Hinterland Travel, an England-based adventure travel company that offers tours passing through central and north Afghanistan as well as volatile lapis mines in the country.
The company was not immediately reachable for comment. Its latest 21-day tour passing through “glorious, stark mountain passes” in Bamiyan and Herat started on July 26, according to its website.
James Willcox, founder of another England-based adventure travel operator called Untamed Borders, said his company stopped using the Bamiyan-Herat road in 2009 because “it was just not safe.”
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