IS claims responsibility for Kabul attack

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for an attack on the Iraqi embassy in Kabul that began with a suicide bomber blowing himself up at the main gate, allowing gunmen to enter the building and battle security forces.

Monday's attack comes a week after 35 people were killed in a Taliban attack on government workers in the Afghan capital and underlines the country's precarious security as the United States weighs an overhaul of its policy in the region.

"Our forces are inside and a clearance operation is underway," said Afghan interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish, adding that embassy personnel were safe, although embassy guards and nearby civilians might have suffered casualties.
Danish put the number of gunmen in the building at three.

Islamic State's Amaq agency said two attackers had blown up the gate, killing seven guards, and two fighters had broken into the compound.
IS has carried out a series of high-profile attacks in Kabul, mainly targeting members of the mainly Shi'ite Hazara community, and fuelling concerns of a possible spillover into Afghanistan from fighting in Syria and Iraq.

The local branch of the movement, often called Daesh, is often known as Islamic State in Khorasan (ISIS-K), after an old name for the region that now includes Afghanistan.




cred: Reuters