AFP/Kabul

The only surviving child of Sardar Ahmad, the AFP reporter gunned down with the rest of his family in a Kabul hotel, may soon leave hospital after rapidly recovering from multiple bullet wounds, doctors said yesterday.
Abuzar Ahmad, aged two years and 11 months, suffered fragment wounds to his skull, chest and thigh in the shooting on March 20 that killed his father, mother Homaira, sister Nilofar, 6, and brother Omar, 5.
Abuzar’s relatives hope that he will start a new life with many of his cousins who live in Toronto, Canada.
“He could be discharged within a week or 10 days if things continue to go well,” Luca Radaelli, medical coordinator at the Italian-run Emergency Hospital in Kabul, said.
“He had his sutures on the head removed two days ago, and his general condition is good.
“He is still under treatment, we are still taking care of the other wounds, but they are not so serious as the one to the skull.”
Radaelli said that Abuzar still needed specialist assessment to determine whether he may suffer long-term effects from the bullet fragment that was removed from his skull within hours of the attack.
“There is no need for other emergency surgery. He will need physiotherapy and maybe psychological support in a stable environment,” Radaelli said.
Alongside Sardar and his family, another Afghan and four foreigners — including two Canadians and a Paraguayan — were killed by the four gunmen in the attack in the restaurant of the luxury Serena hotel.
“Abuzar is full of energy, he is full of hope and I see in his eyes the big bright future waiting for him,” said his uncle Bashir Mirzad, who flew to Afghanistan from his home in Canada immediately after the attack.
“We have a lot of family and young cousins in Canada. As the doctors recommend, Abuzar now needs a safe environment to be able to forget all these tragic things.”