The attack has not yet been claimed. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, two members of the diplomatic staff were killed. The death toll could rise in the coming hours.
Kabul ( / Agencies) – At least a dozen victims are the balance after an explosion near the Russian embassy. At around 11 am (local time) an attacker detonated an explosive device, killing two members of the diplomatic corps. The Russian Foreign Ministry reported in a statement that “the embassy is in close contact with the Afghan security services, which are investigating” the incident.
“According to eyewitnesses, the victims could be many more,” local journalist Najib Lalzoy told Al-Jazeera. The detonation “occurred near the embassy, where there was a crowd of people gathered to apply for Russian visas,” she added.
The Taliban said they managed to identify and kill the suicide bomber “before he reached his target.”
Russia is one of the few countries to maintain an embassy in Kabul since the Taliban reconquered Afghanistan more than a year ago. Although Moscow has not officially recognized the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, negotiations have been held in recent weeks for the supply of oil and other products.
So far, the attack has not been claimed, although suspicions fall on local militants of the Islamic State (Is-K), which mainly attacks institutional targets to weaken Taliban control, or the Shiite community and members of other minorities for consider them “infidels”.
On September 3, an explosion outside a mosque in Herat left at least 19 dead and 23 injured. The attack was directed at Mujib Rahman Ansari, a religious close to the Taliban.
Recent events demonstrate once again that despite the Taliban’s claims that the Islamic State has been defeated, the “students of the Koran” are incapable of running the country. At the same time, foreign nations could find it increasingly difficult not only to maintain a diplomatic presence, but also to conduct business with the Taliban government for security reasons.
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