Afghan Taleban kill 2 in attack on US Consulate

KABUL: Taleban militants unleashed car bombs at the US Consulate in western Afghanistan on Friday morning, triggering a firefight with security forces in an attack that killed at least two Afghans and wounded 17. The US said its personnel from the mission were safe and that most of them were temporarily relocated to Kabul, while American forces secured the site.
The attack in the city of Herat — along with a suicide truck bombing in the country’s east that wounded seven Afghans on Friday — raises concerns of spreading insecurity in Afghanistan as US-led troops reduce their presence ahead of a full withdrawal next year. It came two days after the 12 anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, and was a harsh reality check for Afghans who had spent the previous day and a half celebrating their nation’s first international soccer championship.
Taleban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi took responsibility for the Herat attack in a phone call with The Associated Press. Afghan and US officials, meanwhile, offered slightly different accounts of what happened — differences which could not immediately be reconciled.
According to Gen. Rahmatullah Safi, Herat province’s chief of police, the attack began around 6 a.m. when militants in an SUV and a van set off their explosives-laden vehicles while others on foot fired on Afghan security forces guarding the compound in the city, 1,000 kilometers (625 miles) from Kabul.
An Afghan police officer and an Afghan security guard were killed, though it was not clear whether they died in the explosions of the two vehicles or in the gunfire, Safi said. At least seven attackers were killed, including the two drivers of the explosives-laden vehicles, he said. Herat hospital official Sayednaim Alemi said at least 17 people were wounded, and that two dead bodies were brought to the medical center. It was not immediately clear if the dead were victims mentioned by Rafi.
US State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement that the assault began around 5:30 a.m., when “a truck carrying attackers drove to the front gate, and attackers — possibly firing rocket propelled grenades and assault rifles — started firing at Afghan forces and security guards on the exterior of the gates. Shortly after, the entire truck exploded, extensively damaging the front gate.”
Rafi said US special forces secured the compound and that no attackers managed to breach it. Harf’s statement said “American security personnel” were among the responders, and that “it appears American and contract security personnel addressed any attackers who managed to enter the compound.”