Islamic State-Khorasan claims responsibility for Russian embassy suicide attack in Kabul

The Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP) has claimed the attack outside the Russian embassy in Kabul that took place earlier on Monday.

The terror outfit has identified the suicide bomber as Waqas al Muhajir, the group announced on its channel on Telegram.

Two members of the embassy staff and an Afghan civilian were killed in the Monday suicide blast near the entrance of the embassy in Kabul. While at least 10 people were injured.

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According to the local police, the attacker was shot dead by armed guards while approaching the gate, in one of the first such attacks since the Taliban took power last year.

"The suicide attacker before reaching the target, was recognised and shot by Russian embassy (Taliban) guards ... there is no information about casualties yet," Mawlawi Sabir, the head of the police district where the attack took place, told Reuters.

In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that an unknown militant set off an explosive device near the entrance to the consular section of the embassy around at 10.50 a.m. Kabul time

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, meanwhile, has condemned the “terrorist act”, saying that it was “absolutely unacceptable”.

In his daily press conference, Peskov said that "now the main thing that needs to be done is to get information from the ground about what happened to our diplomatic representatives".

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that security has been intensified at the embassy following the attack and added that "additional forces of the Talibanauthorities" have been deployed.

"Let's hope that the organisers of this terrorist act and its perpetrators will be punished," Lavrov said.

Though it does recognise the Taliban government, Russia is one of the few countries that have maintained an embassy in Kabul after the militant organisation took over the country a year ago.

Moreover, Moscow has been in talks with Taliban officials over an agreement to supply gasoline and other commodities.

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