KATHMANDU: Nepal has barred its citizens from working in Afghanistan after a suicide attack killed 13 Nepali guards in Kabul this week, an official said on Friday. The government said that the safety of Nepalis working in danger zones was its ‘major concern’ and it plans to repatriate the thousands of citizens already working in Afghanistan, although no time frame was given. “The government has decided to impose a ban on sending workers to Afghanistan,” said Ministry of Labour and Employment spokesman Govinda Mani Bhurtel. The latest victims were among 14 security guards who were killed on Monday in a Taliban suicide blast that targeting their bus as they headed out to work at the Canadian embassy in Kabul. A 15th man died in hospital on Wednesday. Official figures show 3,300 Nepalis currently working in Afghanistan as security guards but this excludes those who travelled via Gulf countries so the true figure is thought to be higher. Nepal has already banned its citizens from travelling to Syria, Iraq and Libya for work. The Labour rights advocates said that such bans did little to prevent citizens, desperate for work, from travelling to such countries. General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) General Secretary Bishnu Lamsal said, “The government’s decision to impose a ban on labour destinations is not a long-term solution,” and added that “They should come up with proactive measures to control the number of illegal migrant workers going there (otherwise) the risk will remain high.” Impoverished Nepal has long served as a supplier of security forces to the world. A number of them are former soldiers from the Gurkha brigades of the Indian and British armies while others are retired Nepal army or police personnel. Four Nepali guards were killed in an attack on a UN compound in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif in 2011.