At least two people have been killed and 11 others injured after a suicide bomber detonated explosives near the entrance of the Russian embassy in Kabul, police said, adding the attacker was shot dead by armed guards as he approached the gate.

“The suicide attacker, before reaching the target, was recognised and shot by Russian embassy (Taliban) guards … there is no information about casualties yet,” Mawlawi Sabir, the head of the police district where the attack took place, told Reuters news agency on Monday.

The powerful explosion occurred in the vicinity of the embassy building in the Darul Aman area in southwestern Kabul, local news organisation Khaama Press said.

Two Russian citizens, a diplomat and a security guard, were wounded in the blast, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported.

The agency, citing unnamed sources, says the blast occurred when a Russian diplomat came out to people waiting outside to call out the names of the candidates for a visa.

Locals said a large number of people were present at the spot when the bomb exploded.

The Taliban government did not immediately confirm the explosion or give any casualty figures.

Russia is one of the few countries to have maintained an embassy in Kabul after the Taliban took over the country more than a year ago.

Although Moscow does not officially recognise the Taliban’s government, they have been in talks with officials over an agreement supply gasoline and other commodities.

In recent days, the ISIL (ISIS) group has targeted the Taliban’s religious seminaries and mosques in Kabul and other parts of the country.

Source Al Jazeera

BDST: 1541 HRS, SEP 5, 2022
MSK