Shots fired at Kabul's Serena Hotel

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kassambhai
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Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 8:10 pm

Shots fired at Kabul's Serena Hotel

Post by kassambhai »

Gunshots have been reported at Serena Hotel in the center of Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital.

The hotel is home to many foreigners and is described as a luxury hotel that is set in landscaped gardens and overlooks the city’s famous Zarnegar Park. It’s frequented by journalists, NGO workers, and diplomats. It’s also near the presidential palace.

Gunmen were reported inside the hotel before the shooting started.

“Serena security guards confirmed to me there was a gunman firing inside the hotel but said nothing about casualties,” reported Hafizullah Maroof of BBC via Twitter.

“Afghan security officials have confirmed that gunmen are in #SERENA hotel in #Kabul and fight is still going and I heard huge bangs,” added Afghan journalist Sabawoon Sadiq, also via Twitter.

BBC later reported that men armed with pistols got into an argument and started shooting and that two people were shot.

However, local broadcaster 1 TV reported that Afghanistan police were battling insurgents, who also caused multiple explosions with frag grenades.

“This is a very bad incident because it just happened in the first hour of the Persian New Year,” reported journalist Mustafa Kazemi via Twitter.

ABC, citing a witness, said that Afghan Special Forces entered the hotel following the attack, and that the guests are locked in rooms. Locals are saying that the gunfire has stopped as of 10:45 p.m. local time (2:15 p.m. EDT).

Story developing; check back for updates

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/572832- ... ghanistan/

**Overview**

The Serena Group comprises a collection of 36 luxury resorts, safari lodges, and hotels, which are located in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and Mozambique) and Southern Asia (Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan).

The Serena Hotels Group is one of 96 companies that makes up the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), the for-profit arm of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). The Group trades under the name Tourism Promotion Services (TPS Serena). The company is listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), where it trades under the symbol TPS. As of November 2011, the group has 25 properties in Africa, in the countries of Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The Group also maintains 10 properties in three Asian countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan.
kassambhai
Posts: 64
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 8:10 pm

Post by kassambhai »

CALGARY — The Calgary woman who was killed by Taliban gunmen in a luxury hotel in Kabul Thursday was devoted to peace and wasn't afraid, her grieving brother said Friday.

Zeenab Kassam, 57, one of two Canadians killed in the attack, had been teaching English to girls and boys as an aid group volunteer in Afghanistan's capital city for the past year and a half and didn't express fear, Karim-Aly Kassam said.

"This is not about the Afghan people, this is about a small, extreme minority of very dangerous people who've found a home in Afghanistan," Kassam said. "She was committed to understanding, not violence, to communication, not belligerence.

"She felt safe, she was treated well...I can't believe this is happening."

Afghan authorities said the four attackers managed to enter the heavily secured Serena Hotel and hid in a washroom for hours before gunning down diners in the hotel's restaurant, which is a popular spot for foreigners.

Liberal Sen. Mobina Jaffer identified the other Canadian killed as Roshan Thomas, who had been operating an independent school for children in Kabul since 2003.

Jaffer said Thomas "worked hard for the betterment of Afghanistan" with her husband and children.

Three other foreigners — from India, New Zealand and Pakistan — were also killed.

The four gunmen died in a shootout with Afghan forces.

Kassam's family in Calgary has been struggling to comprehend how the attack occurred, her brother said.

"We're trying to understand what has happened," he said.

The Kassams have made retrieving Zeenab's body their first priority.

"We're trying to secure that, we're trying to co-operate with the Afghan government in anything they ask, we are a small family," the brother said. "We want privacy until her body is home."

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird condemned the "brazen and cowardly attack."

"On behalf of all Canadians, we extend our sincerest condolences to the families and friends of those who were killed and injured," he said in a statement. "Acts of terror must not go unpunished, and those who perpetrated and supported this violence must be held accountable."

It's the latest in a series of Islamist attacks ahead of the April 5 presidential election, which would mark the first time in the country's history that one elected government hands power to another.

Last week, Canada pulled out its last troops from Afghanistan, most of whom were training the country's armed forces. But many fear foreign troops are leaving before security has been achieved in a country that's known war for the past 35 years.

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/03/21/ca ... tel-attack
kassambhai
Posts: 64
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 8:10 pm

Post by kassambhai »

Zeenab Kassam, a Calgary nurse working in Afghanistan, has been identified as one of two Canadians killed in a hotel attack in Kabul.

CBC News and the Calgary Sun both confirmed Kassam's death through family sources.

Kassam's brother, Karim-Aly Kassam, told the Calgary Sun his sister had been volunteering as an English teacher to children for the past year-and-a-half in Afghanistan's capital city.

“This is not about the Afghan people, this is about a small, extreme minority of very dangerous people who’ve found a home in Afghanistan,” Kassam told the Sun, adding his sister was fearless.

“She felt safe, she was treated well ... I can’t believe this is happening.”

Kassam said the family's first priority is to bring his sister home.

A grieving relative told the Globe and Mail the family is "overwhelmed" by the news, adding they're "still trying to understand why all of this happened."

According to the Calgary Herald, news of Kassam's death has shocked the city's Ismaili community.

"We’re trying to maintain the family’s privacy while they have a chance to take in the news," said Temina Lalani-Shariff, a spokesperson for the Ismaili Council for the Prairies.

"Certainly the whole community is sending prayers and good thoughts to them. We’re very saddened over what’s essentially a human tragedy."

Officials say nine people, including four foreigners, were killed in an attack after gunmen opened fire at the Serena hotel Thursday.

Included in the victims is Vancouver doctor Roshan Thomas.

The Globe and Mail has confirmed both Kassam and Thomas were working for the Aga Khan Development Network.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird called it "brazen and cowardly," but that would only strengthen "our resolve to combat the scourge of terrorism in all its forms."

A Canadian analyst in Kabul told The Huffington Post Canada that the attack will hurt the democratic process in the country.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/03/21 ... 08648.html
kassambhai
Posts: 64
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 8:10 pm

Post by kassambhai »

Article courtsey of Calgary Sun News:

The family of a Calgary woman slain by the Taliban in Kabul say they bear no malice to the young men who killed her.

But the brother of nurse and English teacher Zeenab Kassam on Thursday expressed defiance toward "the men who hide in the shadows" who organized the attack.

"You have wounded us but you have not intimidated us. You will never intimidate us," said Dr. Karim-Aly Kassam.

His 57-year-old sister had been teaching English in Kabul for the past one-and-a-half years.

Zeenab Kassam's body is to arrive in Calgary Friday, nearly the same time she was scheduled to come home to be with her ailing mother, said Karim.

The brother said he has questions about the level of security at the Kabul hotel where the shooting attack occurred.

"Those are important questions that need to be asked," he said.

"Right now, our family is focusing on getting Zeenab home."


http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/03/27/br ... -of-attack
kassambhai
Posts: 64
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 8:10 pm

Post by kassambhai »

Daniel Bitonti, CTVNews.ca
Updated Thursday, March 27, 2014 3:09PM EDT


The brother of a Canadian woman who was killed during a mass shooting at an Afghani hotel last week says he has "no malice," and expressed sympathy for the gunmen’s families.

Zeenab Kassam, a volunteer English teacher, was eating a meal last Thursday at the Kabul Serena Hotel when gunmen open fired on customers.

Nine people, including Kassam and Canadian doctor Roshan Thomas, were killed. Police later killed all four attackers after a three-hour standoff.

Karim-Aly Kassam says he feels sympathy for the four men who were gunned down after the attack in Kabul, which left nine people, including his sister and another Canadian.

"We hold no malice towards the people of Afghanistan, we stand with you in solidarity," Zeenab Kassam’s brother, Karim-Aly Kassam, said at a news conference Thursday at Mount Allison University in Calgary. "We grieve with these families of these boys who savagely killed because we know what it is like to lose a family member."

But Kassam said his family has a strong message for the people who had harboured the gunman -- the people he calls the "men who hide in shadows."

"You have wounded us, but you have not intimated us. You will never intimidate us. You use fear, hate and brute forced to bring about death," he said. "We chose empathy, knowledge and hope to secure life. My sister’s life and death was in the cause of service in an effort to bring mutual understanding through communication."

Trained as a nurse, Zeenab Kassam had been in Afghanistan for the past year and a half, volunteering as an English teacher through the Aga Khan Development Network.

“By teaching both young women and men, she furthered their professional development,” Kassam said. “However, learning a new language is not only about acquiring skills for better economic opportunities: it’s about communication, it’s about furthering human interaction and understanding. This is what Zeenab was doing in Afghanistan at the time of her death … We must not forget this.”

Kassam said his sister graduated as a nurse from the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, and later worked in the oncology, neurology and dialysis units at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary.

She was an accomplished ballroom dancer and played an important role in the upbringing of her niece and nephew, he said.

And her own upbringing in Canada, as well in in the Ismaili Muslim community "formed the ethical fabric that made Zeenab who she is," Kassam added.

"I remember my sister relating to me an instance when a young man she was teaching said to her in English 'how do you know we will not kidnap you or kill you?' And she answered 'I don’t know'," Kassam recalled. "Instead of shying away and choosing a path of fear, my sister continued to work in Afghanistan."

Kassam said his family’s commitment to peace, education and volunteering has only strengthened since his sister’s death.

"Zeenab’s death was not in vain," he said. "She has galvanized young Canadians to emulate her."

Visit site to view video message from the brother of Zeenab Kassam:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/brother-of ... -1.1748897
kassambhai
Posts: 64
Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 8:10 pm

Post by kassambhai »

METRO VANCOUVER -- About 1,500 people paid their last respects Monday to Roshan Thomas, the Vancouver educator killed in Kabul, Afghanistan by Taliban terrorists.

People gathered at the Ismaili Headquarters Jamatkhana in North Vancouver by the Trans-Canada Highway.

Inside in the main area, men sat on the left and women on the right on the carpeted floor during final prayers. According to a brochure provided by the Ismailis, prayers are repeated continuously during the service.

They included “La ilaha illalah Muhammad-alRasulillah,” which translated from the Arabic means “There is no god but Allah and Muhammed is His Messenger,” and “Ina lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un/Verily, we belong to Allah and to him we return.”

Thomas worked tirelessly as an educator to provide Afghan children, especially girls, the best possible education. Her dedication led to Taliban gunman penetrating into one of the most secure hotels in Kabul and killing Thomas and eight others, including Zeenab Kassam, a nurse from Calgary, and two children.

The attack came on March 21, the day Afghans celebrated the New Year.

In a prepared statement, the Thomas family said the day was one of “mourning and thanksgiving for our family.

“We mourn that those who plan and commit these atrocities have never known the beauty of our faith, Islam, or any other faith in the path of God,” the family said.

“We mourn the loss of a remarkable woman who was both a leader and a servant, a teacher and a student, a friend and a mother.”

The statement said Thomas always believed that her life would be judged not on what she achieved, “but what she enabled others to achieve.

“It was this ethic that drove her spirit of imaginative volunteerism in countries around the world, including Canada, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tanzania and Zambia. It is this spirit which will live in each one of us, as we strive to follow in her footsteps and to honour her life and legacy.”

Her first name Roshan means “light” or “bright” in Persian.

Born in Uganda, Thomas grew up in Great Britain. According to an earlier story in The Vancouver Sun, she said her parents fled persecution in Indian in 1947 and received help from Ismaili charities.

In Afghanistan, she said in 2007, her worked originated in the sense that it was her turn to give back. In 2003, she established a school called Sparks Academy, which now teaches 900 boys and girls.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/ ... story.html

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/ ... e=620x400s
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