A close friend of the American public relations executive killed by terrorists in Afghanistan shared fears for his own safety with DailyMail.com after a recent attack on him at his home.
Glenn Selig, 50, a spokesman for former Trump campaign adviser, Rick Gates, was shot dead at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul on Saturday.
The death of the married father-of-two was confirmed by his Florida-based business, The Publicity Agency, on Wednesday.
In a statement, his firm’s spokesperson said: ‘Glenn was in Kabul on a potential success story involving Afghanistan and its steps to battle extremism. The focus was highlighting the country’s new president and constructing a democracy forum event for Afghani women.’
He was one of four Americans who were killed in the siege. Another two Americans were injured, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told DailyMail.com. An Afghan official said Thursday at least 25 people were killed in the attack, as conflicting figures emerged of the true death toll.
Selig’s friend of 20 years, Jack Burkman, told DailyMail.com that Selig warned him to take care of himself during their final conversation, which was a day after Burkman was attacked by a masked man at his home in Virginia last Tuesday night.
Selig and Burkman both worked for Gates, who with his boss Paul Manafort was charged in October with 12 crimes linked to money laundering and foreign lobbying violations. They have both pleaded not guilty.
Jack Burkman’s close friend of 20 years Glenn Selig was one of four Americans murdered by the Taliban in a terrorist attack at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday. Pictured: Selig with his family at Trump’s Inauguration Ball
Aid: Jack Burkman (standing) and Glenn Selig (seated, top right) ran a fundraiser before Christmas for Rick Gates, who made a video screen appearance later in the night
Selig was a spokesman for Rick Gates who is charged with money laundering along with his boss Paul Manafort. Both worked for Trump at the time of the 2016 Republican National Convention (left) but his friend and co-worker Jack Burkman (right) says his murder in Kabul needs further investigation
On Saturday, Taliban terrorists entered the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul and shot dead Selig. He was one of four Americans who were killed in the siege. Another two Americans were injured, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told DailyMail.com
An Afghan official said Thursday at least 25 people were killed in the attack, as conflicting figures emerged of the true death toll. Pictured: Victims using sheets to flee from the hotel
Burkman said: ‘I last spoke to Glenn on Wednesday last week when he was in Dubai. The last words he said to me were ‘be careful’ because I had been attacked. I didn’t know he was connecting to Kabul at the time.’
The Republican lobbyist was assaulted at his home, according to Arlington Police Department, who said they were called to the property after a report of malicious wounding by a caustic agent.
Nobody has been arrested and the investigation is ongoing.
Burkman told DailyMail.com that he was walking from the store around 7.25pm when a masked man jumped from a black SUV parked in his driveway and pepper-sprayed and punched him in the face.
Describing it as a ‘professional hit’, Burkman added: ‘I thought I was going to die. When I saw the mask, then next thing I thought was there would be an automatic weapon and he was going to blow me away.’
He said that his friend’s death, so soon after his own assault, had left him ‘very suspicious’.
‘This attack followed four days after I was attacked,’ he said. ‘I don’t know, maybe the same people who wanted me dead, wanted Glenn dead.
‘First of all, they killed relatively few people and they could have killed a lot more. All of it to me is very suspicious – how they [attackers] got in there, who ushered them in?
‘It almost has the look of a targeted hit rather than a terrorist attack. I wonder was Glenn the target? Or was Glenn and others the target? I think we need a much deeper investigation than what we’re getting.’
Burkman said that he has not shared his fears that the two attacks are linked with the police.
‘In Arlington the police are very good but I couldn’t really tell them what happened in Afghanistan, I wouldn’t think they would be interested,’ he said.
The lobbyist has hired full-time, armed security and said he was ‘more concerned than ever’ about his safety.
Burkman said that he did not know who was behind the attacks but suggested some ‘deeper, darker theories’.
‘I wonder if there aren’t deep, dark elements in the U.S. bureaucracy that don’t like what I was doing and by extension, didn’t like what Glenn was doing,’ he added.
He described Selig as a remarkable man and a close friend.
‘I’ve known Glenn for more than 20 years and I’ve worked with since the beginning of his firm around ten years ago,’ Burkman said. ‘Glenn was one of the best people I ever met, he was one of my closest friends.
‘I think he was a man without flaw. He was brightest guy in public relations I ever knew, he taught me so much. He brought nothing but good to this world.
‘He was a great family man and he was special human being and they don’t make people like that.’
Burkman declined to talk about Selig’s wife and children, only saying that his son and daughter were teenagers and it was ‘terrible for them’.
Selig enjoyed a long media career having worked at one stage as a reporter for Fox 13 in Tampa.
Burkman told DailyMail.com that he was walking from the store around 7.25pm when a masked man jumped from a black SUV parked in his driveway and pepper-sprayed and punched him in the face. Describing it as a ‘professional hit’, Burkman added: ‘I thought I was going to die’
Scene of the crime: Arlington police said they were called to the home after a report of malicious wounding by caustic agent. Nobody has been arrested
A statement issued by his publicity agency read: ‘Glenn was a tireless professional, loyal friend and pillar of the community, but most importantly he was a loving husband and wonderful father.
‘The loss for his family and friends cannot be measured nor conveyed strongly enough, but we thank everyone for the outpouring of support we have received.’
Selig had flown into Kabul on a commercial flight and was believed to have been met on his arrival by a private, Afghanistan-based security company, Burkman said.
The lobbyist, who was also a client of Selig’s firm, was first alerted that his friend may have been caught up in the attack on Saturday, when he received a message from Selig’s senior staff.
‘They told me he was missing and they hoped to find him. On Sunday, I got a text that he was still missing and that’s when I knew something was very wrong. I began to search around, trying to find out everything I could,’ Burkman said.
‘The last time to my knowledge that anyone spoke to him was about midday on Friday.’
Selig was confirmed dead on Wednesday but Burkman said he had already been prepared for the worst.
‘Once it goes 48 hours, there are only so many places you can be,’ he said.
The siege began when five gunmen stormed the hotel on Saturday morning, shooting people and setting off suicide bombs.
For 13 hours, they roamed the hotel’s halls, shooting guests who hid in their rooms and tried to escape by lowering themselves with knotted bed sheets from their balconies.
Selig had flown into Kabul on a commercial flight and was believed to have been met on his arrival by a private, Afghanistan-based security company, Burkman said
Link: Rick Gates (left) was deputy to Paul Manafort (right), the Trump campaign chairman who he will go on trial with later this year
The gunmen gained entry past private security guards by dressing in military uniform.
A Taliban spokesperson claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out by five of its members. ‘Our five fighters, Bilal, Ayubi, Khalil, Bashar and Abid entered the building and conducted the operation that resulted in the death of 10 foreigners and Afghan government officials,’ Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, told Al Jazeera.
Some 150 people were either rescued or were able to escape. The siege ended with the terrorists being killed by Afghan soldiers.
AFP independently verified that 15 foreigners — seven Ukrainians, four Americans, two Venezuelans, one German and one Kazakh — died in the massacre.
‘We have 25 deaths from the Intercontinental Hotel attack in Kabul — seven Afghans, 13 foreigners and five suspected attackers,’ Afghan health ministry spokesman Wahid Majrooh told AFP.
That was hours after he gave a different toll, telling AFP that 25 Afghans had been killed and that ‘we don’t know about the foreign fatalities’.
An Afghan security official also said 25 people had been killed in the 12-hour attack on Saturday but that figure included three badly burned bodies ‘which we believe are of foreigners’.
‘To be honest I am not very sure about the final death toll yet,’ he said on the condition of anonymity.
Afghan officials have a long history of understating death tolls in high-profile attacks and there is widespread speculation in Kabul that the true death toll in the hotel attack is far higher than what they have said.
The attack comes at a bad time for President Ashraf Ghani whose government was already facing criticism over its failure to improve security in the war-torn country.
An investigation was underway into how the terrorists got past privately-owned Kabul Balkh Safety and Security guards and launch the attack.
Visitors to the upmarket hotel, which sits on a hilltop overlooking the Afghan capital, have described glaring security breaches before the assailants went on a bloody rampage targeting guests, AFP reported. Bags were not checked, scanners did not work and body searches were non-existent, according to witnesses.
During the terrifying ordeal insurgents armed with Kalashnikovs and suicide vests went from room to room searching for foreigners, survivors and a security source have told AFP.