Taliban bomb US consulate in Afghanistan

Seven heavily armed Taliban suicide
attackers struck the US consulate in the
Afghan city of Herat before dawn on Friday,
setting off two car bombs and sparking a
shootout with US forces. The sophisticated attack in the western city,
a key business hub near the Iranian border,
underscored how the Taliban are able to
strike outside their main centres in the
south and east. At least one Afghan guard was killed in the
attack and 18 other people wounded, but
US officials said there were no US casualties
with all consulate staff safe and accounted
for. The US State Department said the attackers
appeared to be wearing suicide vests and
detonated a truck bomb that “extensively”
damaged the front gate. Afghan security officials said six attackers
took part in the assault, detonating a
minivan bomb and then a four-wheel drive
vehicle, before engaging in a gunbattle with
security forces. The attack comes days after Pakistan said it
would soon release its top Taliban prisoner,
former military chief Abdul Ghani Baradar,
in what Afghan officials hope can ignite
peace talks. The Taliban publicly refuse to negotiate
with the Afghan government, branding
Afghan President Hamid Karzai a US
puppet, but opened a liaison office in Qatar
in June billed as a step towards talks with
the Americans on a possible prisoner swap. “Today at around 5:30 am, a minivan
suicide bomber detonated his car outside
the US consulate in Herat city,” Abdul
Hameed Hameedi, the deputy security chief
of Herat province told AFP. “Another suicide bomber driving a four-
wheel drive detonated outside the first gate
of the US consulate — damaging the gate. “After that five suicide bombers engaged in
a gunbattle with the Afghan security forces,
and after a while, all of these suicide
bombers get killed in the attack,” Hameedi
added. He said an Afghan guard at the US
consulate was killed and two other guards
and two policemen wounded. A number of
civilians were wounded because of the
powerful explosion, he said. Herat hospital spokesman Mohammad Rafiq
Sherzai told AFP that 18 people were
wounded, including four policemen and 14
civilians. Abdul Raouf Ahmadi, a spokesman for Herat
police, confirmed the same account and
said that US and Italian forces were also
called to the scene and cordoned off the
area. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the
attack, saying that there were several
casualties on the Afghan and US side but
the militia is known to exaggerate its claims
of deaths and injuries. The front gate of the US consulate was
“extensively” damaged, US State
Department deputy spokeswoman Marie
Harf told reporters. She said the attack started at 5:30 am when
the gunmen, dressed in suicide vests, drove
up to the front gate in a truck, opened fire
and then detonated the truck bomb. American and contracted security personnel
reacted to the attack before it came to an
end, Harf said. US Ambassador James Cunningham
condemned the attack and thanked Afghan
and NATO troops for their quick response in
securing the building and keeping consulate
staff safe. “We are reminded again of the very real
human toll exacted by terrorism. The
perpetrators of this attack have shed
Afghan blood on Afghan soil,” he said in a
statement. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told
AFP in a telephone call that the militia were
responsible. “Our mujahedeen, armed with heavy and
light weapons, attacked the US consulate in
Herat. There are several casualties to
Afghan and US forces,” he said. In the southeastern province of Paktika, a
suicide truck bomber wounded at least 14
Afghan security personnel outside the town
of Sharan when they stopped the vehicle,
police said. US-led NATO troops who have supported
the Afghan government against the Taliban
are due to end their combat mission next
year, after Afghanistan holds key
presidential elections. The US special envoy for Afghanistan and
Pakistan on Tuesday dismissed suggestions
that Washington would withdraw all troops
from Afghanistan after next year. Aides to US President Barack Obama earlier
this year openly mulled the so-called “zero
option” of a complete withdrawal from
Afghanistan once US troops end their
combat role in 2014. James Dobbins, the special envoy, said he
expected “several thousand American
forces and several thousand non-American
NATO forces” in 2015 and beyond. Roughly 100,000 foreign troops now serve
in Afghanistan, two-thirds of them from the
United States. Obama has pledged to the war-weary US
public to end the country’s longest-ever
war, which was launched to fight Al-Qaeda
and their Taliban allies after the September
11, 2001 attacks. AFP