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Suicide Bombing At Russian Embassy In Kabul Kills Two Diplomats

Embassy
September 5, 2022

The bombing also killed at least one civilian and injured 11 others after a suicide bomber detonated explosives after being shot by Taliban guards near the building's entrance in Kabul.

A suicide bombing outside the Russian Embassy in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul has killed two members of the embassy staff.

 

The bombing also killed at least one civilian and injured 11 others after a suicide bomber detonated explosives after being shot by Taliban guards near the building's entrance in Kabul.

 

The blast went off outside the Russian Embassy on Monday, according to several media reports.

An attacker who detonated the explosives outside the Russian Embassy in Kabul was said to have been shot dead before reaching the gate, Daily Mail reports.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said two embassy workers died in the attack and denounced it as an “unacceptable terrorist act.”

 

Earlier, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported that a diplomat and an embassy security guard had been wounded in the bombing.

 

The bomber approached the gates of the embassy in the south of Afghanistan's capital but was shot dead by armed Taliban guards. Despite the bomber being taken down, explosives were detonated, killing at least two people and injuring 11 others, police said.

 

It was not clear whether the suicide bomber was included in the two fatalities reported.

 

A Russian diplomat and security guard - both Russian citizens - were among those injured in the blast, state-owned news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing a source.

 

RIA said the explosion went off when a Russian diplomat came out to people waiting outside to call out the names of candidates for visas.

 

The report said there were between 15 and 20 casualties, but did not differentiate between the dead and wounded. It later said the Russian foreign ministry had confirmed that two of its staff - as well as a citizen - had been killed.

 

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion, the latest to strike the country in the year since the Taliban seized power in August 2021.

The so-called Islamic State group's local affiliate has stepped up attacks against the Taliban and civilians since the former insurgents took over the country last year as US and NATO troops were in the final stages of their withdrawal.

 

According to a statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry, "the explosion occurred in the immediate vicinity of the entrance to the consular section of the Russian Embassy' in the Afghan capital”.

"At 10:50 am Kabul time on September 5, an unidentified militant set off an explosive device in the immediate vicinity of the entrance to the consular section of the Russian embassy in Kabul,” the ministry added in the statement.

 

"As a result of the attack, two employees of the diplomatic mission were killed, and there are also Afghan citizens among the wounded.

 

"It was a suicide attack, but before the bomber could reach his target, he was targeted by our forces and eliminated,' Afghan interior ministry spokesman Abdul Nafy Takor told AFP news agency."

 

Asked whether the target was the Russian embassy, Takor said: 'Yes'.

 

An Afghan civilian was killed and several others were wounded in the attack, he said.

 

"Without any doubt, we are talking about a terrorist act, which is absolutely unacceptable," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

 

 

 

 

 

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