Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry and Afghan officials said that a suicide bomber detonated explosi...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry and Afghan officials said that a suicide bomber detonated explosives near the entrance of the Russian embassy in Kabul, killing at least six people and injuring at least ten more. Two of the people killed were from the Russian embassy.
The militant group Islamic State took credit for the attack on its Telegram channel.
As the attacker got closer to the gate, armed guards shot and killed him, according to the police. This was one of the first attacks of this kind since the Taliban took power last year.
"The suicide attacker was recognised by Russian embassy (Taliban) guards before he got to the target, and they shot him," Mawlawi Sabir, the head of the police district where the attack happened, told Reuters. "Right now, we don't know how many people were hurt."
In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that an unknown militant set off an explosive device around 10:50 a.m. Kabul time near the entrance to the consular section of the embassy.
"Two people who worked for the diplomatic mission were killed in the attack, and Afghan citizens were also hurt," the ministry said.
A police spokesman in Kabul, Khalid Zadran, said that the other four people who died were Afghan civilians.
Since the Taliban took over the country more than a year ago, Russia is one of the few countries that has kept an embassy in Kabul. Even though Moscow does not officially recognise the Taliban's government, they have been talking with officials about a deal to supply gasoline and other goods.
The UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that the blast was wrong.
"In light of recent events, UNAMA stresses the need for the de facto authorities to take steps to ensure the safety and security of the people and diplomatic missions," the UN wrote on Twitter, referring to the Taliban government.
The person who spoke for Afghanistan's foreign ministry said that the Taliban would take serious steps to protect embassies in the country.
"The government has close ties with Russia, and we will never let bad things done by enemies hurt those ties," Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a government spokesperson, said in a statement.
During the decades-long fight between the Taliban and the Western-backed Afghan government, foreign missions were often bombed in Kabul. This was especially true in the last few years, when embassies and hotels put up razor wire and blast walls to protect themselves.
Since the insurgent group took over in August 2021, there have been a lot less of these kinds of problems.
But the Afghanistan branch of the militant group Islamic State has started a rebellion, which the Taliban have had to deal with.
So far, the attacks had been on the Taliban and on civilian places like mosques.
