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On the morning of September 5, an explosion took place near the Russian Embassy in Kabul. At the moment when the Russian diplomat left the building to read out the visa application lists, a suicide bomber attempted to detonate an explosive device in the crowd.
According to the police, the terrorist was eliminated by the security forces, but the explosion was not prevented. The representative of the city police Khaled Zadaran said that the suicide bomber wanted to carry out a self-detonation, being among the people gathered at the Russian embassy. Before reaching his goal, he was killed by security forces, at that moment an explosion occurred, TOLO News reported.
As a result of the attack, two employees of the Russian Embassy in Kabul were killed. According to the Russian media, the victims are a security guard and a diplomat who was reportedly identified as the second secretary of the embassy, Mikhail Shah.
“In the immediate vicinity of the entrance to the consular section of the Russian Embassy in Kabul, an unknown militant detonated an explosive device. As a result of the attack, two employees of the diplomatic mission were killed, there are also victims among Afghan citizens,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Local media reported that the explosion was very powerful. The attack resulted in a big number of civilian casualties among the locals. It was reported that about 15-20 people were killed and injured in total. The local security forces are yet to declare the official number of victims. The Foreign Ministry is in contact with the security services of Afghanistan, who have launched an investigation. Security measures in the embassy were increased, Taliban authorities and the intelligence and counterintelligence forces of Afghanistan were involved.
The press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov called the incident a terrorist attack.
“Of course, we are talking about a terrorist attack. We strongly condemn such terrorist acts. And, of course, now the main thing that needs to be done is to get information from the spot about what happened to our representatives, our diplomats,” he told reporters.
ISIS branch in Afghanistan, the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) may be the main suspect in the attack. The terrorist group stepped up its attacks in Kabul, following the Taliban takeover in 2021. Despite the Taliban’s efforts, ISIS-K continues to expand its operations all over Afghanistan. The group is now the most serious challenge facing the Taliban’s new regime.
