Suicide bomber near Russian embassy in Kabul kills two staff

Bloomberg

An explosion outside the Russian embassy in Kabul killed a senior diplomat and a security guard, Russia said. A Taliban spokesman confirmed the blast.
“An unknown gunman detonated an explosive device in the immediate vicinity of the entrance to the consular section of the Russian Embassy in Kabul,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday. “Two employees of the diplomatic mission were killed, and there were casualties among Afghan citizens as well.”
Russia is one of the few countries in the world to have kept its embassy in Kabul open and to invite Taliban diplomats to Moscow after the militant group returned to power a year ago following the chaotic withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s Taliban government is investigating the incident, deputy spokesman, Bilal Karimi, said by phone.
The explosion took place around 11:00 a.m. when a suicide bomber approached the embassy, Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said in a text message. Afghan security officials fired at him before the blast, he added. It took place as a diplomat left the building to read out names to the queue of people waiting to hear about their visa applications, the RIA Novosti state news service reported.
The Investigative Committee, Russia’s equivalent of the FBI, said it’s opened a criminal inquiry into the death of the embassy’s second secretary and a security guard.
The mission is in close contact with the Afghan security services, who are conducting an investigation, the Russian foreign ministry added.
The Taliban have reinforced security around the embassy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow. “We hope that those who staged this terrorist act will get the punishment they deserve as soon as possible,” Lavrov said. The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the attack.
Afghanistan has “close relations with the Russian Federation,” the ministry’s spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said on Twitter. The government will “not allow the enemies to sabotage relations between both countries with such negative actions,” he added.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.