The United Arab Emirates announced that five of its diplomats were killed in a bombing in Afghanistan’s Kandahar that killed at least 11 people and wounded 17 others, including Juma al-Kaabi, the UAE ambassador to Afghanistan.

The blast, which struck the provincial governor’s office during a visit by the UAE delegation.

On the Afghan side, authorities said the dead included two politicians, a deputy governor from Kandahar and an Afghan diplomat stationed at its embassy in Washington.

In honour of the dead, government institutions across the UAE were directed to fly the flag at half-mast for three days.

However, the Taliban denied carrying out the bombing, arguing that the attack was a result of “internal local rivalry”.

Only last week the Pentagon decided to deploy some 300 US Marines to Helmand province in order to assist the training of Afghan forces, a decision welcomed by the Afghan government.