(Reuters) - A suicide bomber attacked the Indian consulate in the
eastern Afghan capital of Jalalabad on Saturday, Indian officials and
local police said, killing six people and wounding 22.
Gunfire resounded through the area for at least an hour following the
10 a.m. blast near the consulate entrance.
All the casualties were civilians, except for one wounded Afghan
soldier, said Baz Mohammad, a senior health official in Nangarhar
province.
"Explosion in front of India's Consulate in Jalalabad. All Indians
officials safe," Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Syed
Akbaruddin said on Twitter.
The attack followed a world-wide travel alert issued by the United
States on Friday, saying that Al Qaeda could be planning attacks in
August, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa. The United
States has ordered the closure of 21 embassies and consulates on
Sunday, including its Kabul mission.
Nangarhar police chief Mohammad Sharif Amin told Reuters a bomber
detonated a car packed with explosives outside the consulate and an
adjacent mosque. The consulate was the intended target, he said, but
most casualties were from the mosque.
Roads near the Indian consulate remained blocked as gunfire rattled
through the area, deputy provincial police chief Masoom Khan Hashimi
said.
Indian diplomatic missions have been targets of previous attacks in Afghanistan.
The eastern border province of Nangarhar, and its capital Jalalabad,
have long been a hotbed of insurgent activity.
On Friday, a five-hour battle between Afghan security forces and
Taliban fighters in the province's Shirzad district killed dozens of
Afghan police and insurgents, officials said.
© CopyRight - http://www.reuters.com/
0 comments:
Post a Comment