Taliban kill South African family in Kabul attack

South African aid worker Werner Groenewald tried in vain to protect his two children moments before they were shot dead by the Taliban in Afghanistan at the weekend.

With the US-led NATO war against the Taliban nearing its end, the insurgents have targeted foreign guesthouses, embassy vehicles, US troops and a female member of parliament in recent weeks.

Werner Groenewald, 46, his son Jean-Pierre, 17, and daughter Rode, 15, were killed in Saturday's attack on the compound of Partnership in Academics and Development (PAD), a small California-based education group.

"They shot Werner in his office in the leg and then he ran upstairs to go try and protect his children [Rode and Jean-Pierre]," Groenewald's sister-in-law Riana du Plessis, who lives in Pretoria, told Sapa on Monday.

Minutes later the family was dead.

Du Plessis burst into tears on the telephone as she spoke of her family, who had moved to Afghanistan years ago.

The attack happened on Saturday at the offices of the Partnership in Academics and Development (Pad) in Kabul, where Groenewald lived and worked.

"Three of them [the insurgents] entered the house and they were disguised as policemen - one was a suicide bomber - and the other two had guns in their hands," she said.

Werner's wife Hannelie, a doctor, was working at a hospital when the attack began, Hannelie's sister Riana du Plessis, who is acting as family spokeswoman, told AFP.

Explosions and gunfire erupted for three hours as Afghan elite commandos battled three militants who were eventually killed.

"Their house was burned down," du Plessis said, speaking in South Africa. "Hannelie went back there this morning to try to recover some of their goods, but there was nothing to recover.

"She lost everything -- her children, her husband, her cats, her dogs."

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed on Twitter that the compound was that of a secret Christian missionary group.

Du Plessis and friends of the Groenewalds in Kabul said the family were strict Christians but were not missionaries.

Many international aid workers, diplomats and consultants work in Kabul, though very few are accompanied by their families.

"In the midst of this unprovoked attack, Partnership in Academics and Development remains committed to providing educational resources for Afghan citizens," the charity said in a message on its website.

A family website described how the Groenewalds moved to Kabul with their two children in 2002.

It said Werner was previously a Christian pastor in Pretoria, while Hannelie is a qualified doctor who answered a call "to help the sick in Afghanistan".