Russian Embassy suicide bomb kills 3

KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bombing outside the Russian Embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday killed two members of the embassy staff and at least one Afghan civilian in a rare attack on a foreign diplomatic mission in Afghanistan.

The blast went off at the entrance to the embassy’s consular section, where Afghans were waiting for news about their visas, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry and the state news agency RIA Novosti. A Russian diplomat had emerged from the building to call out the names of candidates for visas when the explosion occurred, the agency said.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility late Monday, saying a militant wearing an explosive belt blew up at the embassy entrance.

After a series of bombings since the Taliban took control of the nation last year, Monday’s appeared to the first to target a foreign diplomatic mission in Kabul. The campaign of attacks has largely targeted Taliban positions or mosques of minority groups, particularly Shiites. They have largely been blamed on the Islamic State group’s affiliate in Afghanistan, which opposes the Taliban and harbors a virulent hatred of Shiites, considering them heretics.

It was not immediately clear why militants targeted the Russian Embassy.

The Russian mission is one of only a couple of international missions still operating and performing consular services in Kabul — and the only European one. No country has recognized the Taliban government.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the explosion “a terrorist act, absolutely unacceptable.”

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the embassy enhanced its security after the attack and additional Taliban authorities, including intelligence agents, were brought in.

“Let’s hope that the organizers of this terrorist act and its perpetrators will be punished,” Lavrov said.