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In January 2008, Norwegian journalist Carsten Thomassen was killed during an attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul.
Thomassen was in Afghanistan in connection with the visit of the then Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Labor Party) to the country.
Attack plans revealed three months before the attack
The man who shot Thomassen, Muhammed Ramadan, was arrested and later sentenced to death. However, this sentence has never been served and Ramadan has been in prison until he was probably released, writes Aftenposten.
Ramadan was one of about 400 prisoners that Taliban leaders wanted to be extradited as a precondition for participating in peace negotiations with the Afghan authorities, the Norwegian authorities confirmed the newspaper.
A millimeter-thick protective film saved the lives of Støre’s bodyguards
– The person involved in the Serena attack is likely among those released in connection with the release of prisoners as part of intra-Afghan peace negotiations, Secretary of State Audun Halvorsen writes at the Foreign Ministry in an email.
Envoys from the Afghan government and the Taliban kicked off landmark peace talks in Qatar’s capital Doha on Saturday.
