(PatrioticPost.com)- On Monday, a suicide bomber attacked the Russian embassy in Kabul, leaving six people dead including two embassy staffers.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the suicide bomber set off an explosive device outside of the consular section of the Russian embassy. And while the Taliban guards shot and killed him before he could enter the premises, the bomb detonated close enough to the building to kill two diplomatic mission employees.
A spokesman for the Taliban Interior Ministry confirmed that the Russian embassy was the intended target of the attack. According to Taliban officials, at least ten people were injured in the explosion and six were killed, four of whom were Afghan citizens.
Local police said the bomb detonated near a “crowd of people” outside of the embassy. Russian state media reported that the attack occurred just as a Russian diplomat exited the embassy building to call out the names of visa candidates waiting outside.
CNN reported that a source with Afghan security said one of the two embassy staffers killed was an Afghan guard. No other details were provided on the other fatalities.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described Monday’s attack as a “terrorist act,” calling it “absolutely unacceptable.”
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said additional Taliban security forces have been requested to strengthen the outer perimeter around the embassy.
This was the first attack on a foreign diplomatic mission since the Taliban took over Afghanistan last August.
The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack on its Telegram channel.
Russia is one of the few countries to maintain an embassy in Afghanistan since the US withdrawal last year. And while Moscow does not officially recognize the Taliban government, Russia has been in talks with Taliban officials about supplying gasoline and other commodities to the country.
