The group the islamic State claims an attack against the Iraqi embassy in Kabul

AFP

AFP

Monday, 31 July, 2017 04:00

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Monday, 31 July, 2017 04:00

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KABUL | The Iraqi embassy in Kabul was on Monday the target of a coordinated attack for more than four hours was conducted by four attackers, all killed by the afghan forces, and claimed by the group islamic State in the heart of the city.

“The attack is finished, all the attackers were killed,” announced shortly after 15: 30 on his page in Facebook the ministry of the Interior, which had previously talked about a commando four attackers, including a suicide bomber who opened the way to the other.

“The iraqi diplomats have been evacuated to a safe place, no one was injured”, according to the release.

According to the spokesperson of the iraqi ministry of foreign Affairs, Ahmed Jamal, who has reported “two dead, two guards afghans” killed in the attack on the AES, “the chargé d’affaires (which takes the place of an ambassador, editor’s note) has been evacuated to the embassy of Egypt” next to it. The afghan ministry of the Interior, for its part, reported that a police officer injured.

The propaganda organ of the AES, Qama, claimed responsibility for the operation, referring to “two” combatants, no other details.

This is the first time that the Iraqi embassy in Kabul is attacked, after several attacks on foreign missions.

The afghan ministry of Interior had confirmed to mid-day the attack on the legation of iraq, stating in a press release: “at approximately 11: 10 a.m. this morning, a group of four terrorists attacked the embassy of iraq in district 4 of Kabul”.

“A first suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of the enclosure, and the other three have found their way inside. The police responded promptly and the staff of the embassy has been taken away in a safe place,” he added, announcing that”an operation to kill the terrorists (was) in progress.”

According to a security officer, the special forces were on the spot “and the civilian residents were evacuated”.

Shops closed

The first explosions were heard and reported to the AFP shortly after 11: 00 pm: at least four explosions, gun fire, and grenades were heard, according to several residents.

A thick black smoke was soon high above the district target, beset by the sirens of police and ambulances.

“The ambulances and security forces, including the u.s., are deployed on the field”, had noted a photographer of AFP.

According to him, “all of the stalls and shops of the Shar-e-Now (the commercial district chic of Kabul, editor’s note) have been closed, people, women, children, fleeing the area, panicked.

In a statement, the afghan ministry of foreign Affairs, “”strongly condemned the attack against the embassy of iraq”. Simultaneously in Baghdad, the iraqi ministry stated, “monitor the situation with the afghan authorities competent and friendly countries and to examine the measures to be taken to bring relief to the officials of the embassy”.

This attack comes in the full collapse of the IS in Iraq and Syria. On 13 July, the chargé d’affaires, iraq to Kabul had given a press conference “on the occasion of the victory of our armed forces(…) in the city of Mosul”, taken to the reaction, which prevails also in Afghanistan, ” said the embassy on its website.

The AE, who moves back in the Levant appeared in Afghanistan to build The “emir of Khorasan”, the old name of the region, early 2015. Primarily established in the east of the country, it is growing now in the north of the country despite air raids americans who are targeted on a regular basis for positions.

The group has claimed responsibility for several bloody attacks in the heart of Kabul for a year, the first on 23 July 2016 had 84 people dead and 300 injured within the shi’a minority in afghanistan.

With this attack, the AE “wants to send a message to many States, not just to Iraq, to prove that he is present everywhere (…) especially after the victories recorded by the iraqi security forces,” said Essam al-Fili, a political analyst in iraq contacted by AFP.

“Attack of the embassies is part of the strategy of this kind of groups, because (they) represent a strong symbol of the States” affected.

The AE has perpetrated numerous attacks in neighborhoods diplomatic. But, apart from an attack against the consulate of iraq in Cairo in 2015, this is the first led directly to the interior of a chancellery.