Explosions, Gunfire Heard in Afghanistan's Kabul
- by Virginia Carter
- in World Media
- — Aug 1, 2017
A suicide bombing followed by gunfire targeting the Iraqi Embassy in the Afghan capital on Monday left an unknown number of casualties, officials said.
Three attackers entered the compound after a fourth blew himself up in a auto bombing at an embassy gate in the late morning Monday.
The Islamic State terror group took responsibility for an attack Monday on Iraq's embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul in which two people died.
Last month, at least six worshipers were killed in a Daesh-claimed attack on a mosque in Kabul. IS and other militant groups often exaggerate their claims of casualties inflicted in attacks.
Mr Danish said that all the embassy staffers were safe but that the building had suffered extensive damage, with windows broken and several rooms badly burned.
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up, the statement said, adding that at least seven guards have been killed, in addition to destruction of the security gate.
Daesh - or so-called Islamic State (IS) - claimed responsibility for the attack.
The United Nations political mission in Afghanistan on Monday denounced an attack on the embassy of Iraq saying it is another attack aimed at the worldwide community but where Afghan civilians bear the brunt of the violence.
Afghan special forces were called in to engage the attackers, killing all of them after a battle lasting more than four hours.
Kabul is regularly hit by militant attacks, mostly from the Taliban, who are resurgent across large swaths of the country almost 16 years after the US-led intervention in Afghanistan toppled the group. "It was shut down today as that gunfire went on", Al Jazeera's Jennifer Glasse, reporting from Kabul, said. The assailants took cover in the embassy building in a business district of the city, the officials further said.
