Germany's consulate in the Afghan northern city of Mazar-e Sharif was attacked when a suicide car bomber rammed the compound, killing four people and wounding about 120, German news agency DPA reported citing local police and representative of the Mazar-e Sharif hospital.
According to Fox News, local doctor Noor Mohammad Faiz said that four dead, two civilians and two unidentified bodies, were brought to the Balkh hospital and around 115 people were wounded.
“The blast was too loud and powerful, which shattered windows, and many civilians were wounded inside their homes,” he said.
The car exploded at the gate of the consulate in Mazar-e Sharif city, destroying the gate and wall around 11.10 p.m. Thursday, said Abdul Raziq Qaderi, head of security for Balkh province.
“Police have surrounded the area and our forces are inside the compound,” he said.
A spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry said on November 11 that all of its two dozen staff escaped the attack “safe and uninjured” and were evacuated, while Afghan security forces and NATO special forces had “repulsed the heavily armed attackers.”
The Taliban issued a statement saying the attack was retaliation for recent airstrikes in the northern city of Kunduz, capital of the province of the same name.
Mazar-e Sharif is the capital of Balkh province and one of the most important cities in the country.
Germany reportedly has 983 soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, most of them in Balkh, as part of NATO's Resolute Support mission.
Meanwhile Pajhwok Afghan News reports that Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Tajikistan is among the people wounded in two blasts that hit the German consulate in Mazar-e Sharif.
Tajikistan has four representations in Afghanistan, including a consulate in Mazar-e Sharif.
