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At least two persons were killed and more than two dozens injured in an overnight Taliban car bombing against German consulate in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, local officials said Friday.
"One terrorist detonated a car bomb near the gate of German Consulate office late Thursday night, killing himself and one other person and injuring 28 others," a security source told Xinhua anonymously.
Further details about the incident are still forthcoming amid the absence of official statement while UN official sources put the number of the injured at 90 by the powerful explosion which occurred roughly at 11:15 p.m. (local time) Thursday.
"The injured were residents who suffer injuries by the bomb shrapnel and flying glasses as the blast damaged several buildings near the site," the source said, adding an investigation was launched into the incident and further details will be released after wards.
The death toll is likely to rise as some injured remained in critical condition, he said. Security forces have cordoned off the area for precautionary measures.
The Taliban militant group claimed responsibility for the attack shortly after the blast.
Zabiullah Mujahid, a purported Taliban spokesman, told local media that the bombing was a revenge attack against killing of civilians by "invaders" in northern Kunduz province earlier this month.
"The suicide attacker rammed his explosives-laden car into the wall of the German consulate," local police chief Sayed Kamal Sadat told AFP.
The German foreign ministry said the attack had ended and that all German staff from the consulate were unharmed.
"The consulate building has been heavily damaged. It is not yet clear how many Afghan civilians and security personnel died or were injured in the attack," the ministry said in a statement.
"Our sympathies go out to the Afghan injured and their families."
A diplomatic source in Berlin said Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had convened a crisis meeting.
"There was fighting outside and on the grounds of the consulate," a ministry spokesman said. "Afghan security forces and Resolute Support (NATO) forces from Camp Marmal (German base in Mazar-i-Sharif) are on the scene."
Afghan special forces cordoned off the consulate, previously well-known as Mazar Hotel. Helicopters were heard flying over the diplomatic mission early Friday as ambulances with wailing sirens rushed to the area, according to an AFP reporter near the scene.
(APD)
