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Up to four people, all Afghans, were killed and 33 others injured in a deadly attack on German Consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif on Thursday night, police here said Friday.
Mazar-e-Sharif is the capital of the northern Balkh province, 305 km north of Kabul.
"It was a car bomb detonated next to the building of German consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif city at around 11:00 p.m. (local time) Thursday, leaving four civilians dead and 33 others injured," provincial police chief Sayed Kamal Sadat told reporters at a press conference here.
"No German national has been hurt in the attack," the official asserted.
However, he confirmed that three security personnel sustained injuries in the blast and gunshots there.
Disputing the figure given by Sadat, a doctor in Mazar-e-Sharif hospital confirmed that four dead bodies and 120 injured people had been taken to hospital since Thursday night.
Earlier, director of regional hospital in Mazar-e-Sharif, Khawja Noor Mohammad Faiz confirmed taking four dead bodies and 115 injured persons including 17 children and 10 women to the hospital in Mazar-e-Sharif city.
Meanwhile, Zabihullah Majahid who claims to speak for the Taliban outfit in contact with media claimed responsibility for the attack, insisting the suicide bombing against the German consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif had inflicted casualties on German and Afghan security personnel providing security for the building, a claim utterly rejected by the Balkh police chief.
Balkh police chief Sadat categorically stated that no German national had been hurt in the attack.
To stabilize security around the diplomatic mission in Mazar-e-Sharif, the NATO-led Resolute Support mission deployed its quick reaction forces in response to the attack on the German Consulate last night.
The northern Balkh province has been regarded as a peaceful province in the militancy-plagued Afghanistan. Nevertheless, the attack on the German Consulate Thursday night has shattered the trust of Balkh residents for future.
"Several innocent people were killed and injured in the attack last night and who knows what would happen tonight or in coming nights and days," a resident of Mazar-e-Sharif, Mohammad Mirza, told Xinhua.
(APD)
