One of the Britons killed in the Kabul bomb attack has been named as Mohammad Niazi, who died along with his wife and two of their children after he went to Afghanistan to rescue them.
The 29-year-old taxi driver and father-of-four travelled to Kabul on Tuesday to bring his family to safety in the UK.
His wife and two daughters, both under 10, were killed in the suicide bombing.
Their two-year-old son and another daughter are being treated in hospital for their injuries.
Mohammad Niazi had been living in Hampshire
Mr Niazi’s wife had been in the process of completing her UK visa application.
His friend, Imran Niazi, said Mohammad was “desperate” to help his family and believed he was “one of the lucky ones” when he managed to get a ticket to fly out.
“He was that excited to help bring his family home,” Imran told me.
“He was very, very desperate. To be that desperate to travel to Azerbaijan, from Azerbaijan to Kabul… it’s almost three days/four days journey.
“You can imagine, to go past all those Taliban checkpoints, you can tell how desperate he was.”
Imran says Mohammad told him he would phone him when he got to Afghanistan but “he never did, and it’s ended with this. It’s unbelievable”.
He shared a home with Mohammad, and took him to the airport to catch his flight.
“My heart is in pieces, there’s no words,” he said.
“His car is parked outside my door, his bedroom is opposite the living room, we see his things everyday, everything reminds us of him. We don’t know how to get over it.
“He worked 16 or 17 hours a day as a taxi driver to give them a better life. He was so happy whenever he saved up to buy new clothes and toys. Everything was for the benefit of his kids to give them the best life ever.
Mohammed Niazi (far left) and Imran Niazi (far right)
“We’ve known each other for 14 years. He was like my brother rather than my friend.”
Imran’s family, who were also in Afghanistan, managed to get on to an evacuation flight on Friday.
While he is relieved, he says that what should be the happiest time of his life has been the saddest.
“I don’t have this happiness to celebrate or to dare dream that you know my life is going to change,” he explained.
“I’m gonna have my kids with me after 10 days after their quarantining is over, but I cannot really feel it.
“I cannot feel it because Mohammad is no longer here.”
The suicide bombing was carried out by Islamic State offshoot ISIS-K and killed between 79 and 169 Afghans, 13 US military personnel, and two Britons on Thursday.
