Taliban kill SA family

Werner Groenewald and his family, including his young children, felt safe in Kabul, one of world's deadliest cities, where they had lived for 11 years.

The South African expats travelled without armed escorts. Groenewald and his 17-year-old son, Jean-Pierre, liked biking on the hills above Kabul.

That all changed on Saturday when Groenewald, his 15-year-old daughter, Rode, and Jean-Pierre were killed when Taliban insurgents attacked a guesthouse on their property.

After a three-hour gunfight, Afghan security forces killed three Taliban.

The battle ended with the family's double-storey house being gutted.

Groenewald's wife, Hannelie, was not at home at the time.

"Everyone is so sorry. We cannot do anything; we cannot control the situation and it is getting worse day by day," said the family's close friend, Shukrullah Faryad, a native of Kabul, yesterday.

Faryad said he had been told that an explosion at the guesthouse had killed Groenewald and his two teenage children.

"Hannelie is at one of the guest houses. She is trying to get a flight back [to South Africa]," he said.

Groenewald was head of US educational group Partnership in Academics and Development. He and his family had been living in Afghanistan since 2003.

The congregation of the Moreleta Park , Pretoria, church of which the family had been part yesterday mourned the deaths.

"They were a very close family. Werner had been involved in upliftment projects in Afghanistan," said the Rev Willem Badenhorst. "He loved people and he loved making an impact."

Groenewald, Badenhorst said, had once taught people to farm in South Africa and was doing the same on the outskirts of Kabul.

The Taliban strike on Saturday was the latest of several on the capital over the past week. The Islamic insurgents have targeted embassy vehicles, US troops and an Afghanistan MP.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed on Twitter that the Groenwald compound had been attacked because it housed a "secret" Christian missionary group.

In a blog called "Muslims for Jesus", Groenwald's co-worker, Achmed Kariem, wrote about how his "precious soul mate", Groenwald, and his two children were killed when three gunmen and suicide bombers stormed their compound at 4pm.

"The men were carrying grenades and wearing suicide vests."

Six hostages, he said, were rescued after the attack, and one Afghan worker was killed.

He spoke of the last time he and Groenewald were together.

"It was a month ago in Asia when we contemplated the joy set before us of serving Christ. In Werner's last message to the international group of co-workers, he spoke of counting the cost of following Jesus. His words will remain in our hearts forever as he closed the session with these words: 'We only die once, so it might as well be for Jesus'."

In 2010, Groenwald wrote about his experiences in Kabul on www.quora.com.

"I've been living and working in Kabul since 2003 with my family," he wrote then. "Life is totally different here from what we knew in the West ... Safety is scratchy most of the time but we have never felt threatened in the 11 years we have lived here.

"My wife and I both drive ourselves wherever we want to go. Our children are doing online schooling with South African curriculums."

In an online letter, he said he kept fit by mountain biking.

As coalition troops prepare to end their combat mission on December 31, the situation in Afghanistan has become more chaotic.

Hannelie wrote a letter, published on the Bryanston Methodist Church website earlier this year, in which she said that she had received reports of "cruel killings in areas where the Taliban has control".

Other expats in the hands of Islamist extremists include Free State teacher Pierre Korkie.