China’s embassy in Kyrgyzstan was attacked on Tuesday by a suspected suicide bomber whose car rammed the gates of the compound and then exploded, according to…
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China’s embassy in Kyrgyzstan was attacked on Tuesday by a suspected suicide bomber whose car rammed the gates of the compound and then exploded, according to officials.
Reports from the capital Bishkek say only the bomber was killed and three embassy employees, all Kyrgyz, were injured.
An Interior Ministry spokesman quoted Deputy Prime Minister Janysh Razakov as describing the blast, at around 1000 local time, as “a terrorist act”.
The video below purportedly shows the aftermath of the explosion.
Video of aftermath of #China embassy car bombing in Bishkek, #Kyrgyzstan: https://t.co/U50TvJqiet
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) 30 août 2016
As well as Chinese embassy staff, employees at the nearby US embassy were evacuated, according to Kyrgyz authorities.
An investigation is underway into the attack in the impoverished, mostly Muslim ex-Soviet republic, which has a long history of political instability and is battling Islamist extremism.
Some 500 Kyrgyz citizens are thought to be fighting in Syria and Iraq with ISIL, which actively recruits from Central Asia.
An anti-Chinese militant group made up of ethnic Uighurs is also active in the region.