2 Russian Embassy Staff Among At Least 6 Killed In Suicide Bombing Outside Embassy In Kabul

In a rare attack on a foreign diplomatic mission in Afghanistan, a suicide bomber struck outside the Russian Embassy in Kabul on Monday killed two embassy staff members.

According to Al Jazeera, four more people were killed and they were Afghan civilians, said Khalid Zadran, a Kabul police spokesman.

Officials said that the attacker was shot dead by guards as he approached the entrance to the consular section, reported BBC. The Islamic State group said that it was behind the attack in which a number of people were reportedly wounded.

ABC News reported that it was the latest in a series of bombings and other attacks since the Taliban seized power a year ago in Afghanistan. They deposed a Western-backed government and capped their 20-year insurgency. However, the bombing on Monday appeared to be the first to target a foreign diplomatic mission in Kabul since the Taliban takeover.

A statement from the Taliban police chief's spokesman in Kabul said that on Monday morning, an "explosion took place at the Russian embassy in Kabul - four people and two employees of the Russian embassy were killed, and a number of Afghans were injured." It further read that Taliban personnel guarding the embassy spotted the suicide bomber as he approached people gathered in front of the building. The spokesman said that he was identified by "security and targeted, which caused a blast."

An "unknown militant set off an explosive device near the entrance to the consular section," according to Russia's foreign ministry. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that without any doubt, "we are talking about a terrorist act, which is absolutely unacceptable."

Survivors of the attack later spoke of the chaos in its aftermath. A man named Faiz Mohammad said that he went to the Russian embassy to get a visa, and they were sitting outside. He shared that the consul came and "we showed him our papers, he guided us towards the entrance door of the embassy. Suddenly the blast occurred and I fell on the ground."

Another man, Wahidullah, was close by and so he heard a "huge blast." Later he didn't understand what happened to him. He just remembered the blast threw him out on the street. His hands and legs were not working, then his cousin ran toward him and took him to a hospital.

A boy, Ahmad Samir, suffered head injuries in the blast. He said that there were many injured people around him and "everyone was fleeing the site."