On Monday, ISIS claimed the suicide bombing near the Russian embassy in the Afghan capital, Kabul, which killed two employees of the Russian mission and four Afghans.
And the organization said in a statement via accounts on the Telegram application that one of its fighters went to the headquarters of the Russian embassy in Kabul and “detonated his explosive vest in the midst of a gathering of Russian employees.”
Monday’s attack was the first attack on a diplomatic mission in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.
“At 10:50 am (620 GMT), an unidentified fighter detonated an explosive device in the immediate vicinity of the Russian embassy in Kabul. Two employees of the diplomatic mission were killed in the attack,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
In a tweet, Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Thakur confirmed the killing of Russian embassy employees and added that “four civilians” were killed and “a number of wounded”.
As happened following the recent attacks, and the Taliban sought to limit its size, security forces rushed to cordon off the area and prevented the media from filming in the vicinity of the site.
“We are talking here regarding a terrorist attack. This is unacceptable,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said from Moscow that immediate measures were taken to enhance security around the embassy, which is located on one of the Afghan capital’s main roads, leading to the old parliament building.
“The means of the Afghan intelligence and counter-espionage services were used,” he added, calling for the perpetrators of the attack to be held accountable “as soon as possible.”
Russia is one of the few countries that kept its embassy open following the Taliban seized power in Kabul in August 2021, without recognizing their government.
Hekmatullah Hikmat, an Afghan analyst who specializes in security affairs, told AFP that Monday’s attack showed “the government’s weakness in intelligence gathering”.
He considered that “the government has a responsibility to ensure the safety of foreign missions. If it is unable to prevent such attacks in the heart of Kabul, this means that it is unable to guarantee security in the countryside.”
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan, which condemned the attack, stressed in a tweet that “the authorities need to take measures to ensure the safety of the people and diplomatic missions.”
Violence declined significantly following the Taliban returned to power last year, but in recent months the country has witnessed several attacks, some of which targeted minorities, many of which were claimed by the Islamic State.