‘The best man in the community’: Friend of British Kabul bomb victim Mohammed Niazi mourns his loss

ITV News Political Reporter Shehab Khan reported on Saturday on the two British victims of Kabul airport bomb attack

The death of British taxi driver Mohammad Niazi in the the Kabul bomb attack which left 170 dead and dozens injured has left a gaping hole in his community in Aldershot, Hampshire.

Mr Niazi, 29, was said to have flown out to Kabul on Tuesday to collect his wife and four children who were still in Afghanistan after the Taliban took control and bring them to safety in the UK.

But when he had reached Kabul and was on his way back to the airport with his family for their evacuation flight, the ISIS-K bomb blast which ripped through one of the gates outside the airport took him and his wife as victims, along with scores of Afghans, including another Briton, as well as US soldiers.

Of their four children, three are thought to be alive and being treated in hospital, while one, a three-year-old girl, is missing and presumed to be dead, according to Mr Niazi’s brother who is still in Afghanistan.

Mohammad Niazi's friend Imran Ahmed Naizi had no words to describe his loss

Memories left behind

Mr Niazi’s closest friend, Imran Ahmed Naizi, who is currently in the UK and had driven Mr Niazi to the airport for his flight to Kabul, spoke to ITV News about the loss of someone he considered a “best friend, almost a brother”.

“I have no words to use”, Mr Naizi said.

“He was one of the nicest and the loveliest and the kindest person in the community”.

The memories are still raw for Imran Naizi

Mr Naizi had shared a home with his best friend, and the reminders of him are still very raw.

“I have his memories at my home everywhere. His car is parked outside, his bedroom is opposite of the living room. So everything in the house is [a reminder of] him to us.

“[He was] a best friend, like almost brother to me”, Mr Naizi said.

The best man in the community

Mr Niazi was also a pillar in his community in Aldershot, Hampshire, who Mr Naizi said was very affected by Mr Niazi’s loss and that of his family members.

“The community in Aldershot [has] fallen apart", Mr Naizi said.

Mohammad Niazi's community in Aldershot reel from his loss

“We went to Friday [prayers at the] mosque yesterday and there was all over everyone down on the floor crying and crying - losing such a man in the community is really hard.

“I mean, my cousin nearly had an accident yesterday, twice, because of how upset we are for him and for his family. The best man that we had in [the] community.

“[He] never ever had anything negative to say, always thinking positive. No matter who you are, where you are from, what you do, [he] always will give you the best advice as he can.

“[He was a] hard worker, always worked at least 15 or 16 hours a day [driving] a taxi...you can tell how hard a worker he was and how desperate he was earning the money to look after the family”.

He went back for his family

Fighting back tears, Mr Naizi, who came to the UK in 2008, spoke of how difficult it was for him to process the death of someone he considered family.

The loss was so great that Mr Naizi, who himself had family in Afghanistan who were flown to the UK, couldn’t celebrate their coming home.

“I got my family here and it's one of the best things you can achieve in your life, and I don't have a feeling for it", he told ITV News.

“I don't have any feeling to say how happy I am because I've got my family, because Mohammad’s [death] has taken everything from me, because of him I cannot celebrate anything. I can't feel that I'm happy in this world today or in this country”, he said.

Mr Naizi added that he would’ve been in the same situation, and most likely travelling with Mr Niazi, had his wife and children in Afghanistan, who were at the airport when the bomb went off, not had British passports allowing them on board evacuation flights.

“What the foreign office of the UK was saying was that whoever is holding a single British passport holder, they can get their family out from Afghanistan to the UK. And because his [Mr Niazi] four kids were born overseas British, but he never got them a British passport, so he was the one who was having the British passport in his hand, and he said if he goes, he can get all of them out because of that one British passport”, Mr Naizi said.

“I mean, you do anything for the safety of your family”, he added.

For Mr Naizi, his message is that those responsible for the Kabul airport attack should be held accountable.

“Well, there's a lot of things to be [said]. I mean, whoever was behind it should pay the price, should be hunted down, as Joe Biden said.

“These [were] all innocent people. Those all were trying to get out of the country for their safety, for their safety”.