Afghan Taliban hit German consulate; at least 6 killed

The death toll from a powerful Taliban truck bombing at the German consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif city rose to at least six yesterday, with more than 100 others wounded in a major militant assault.

The Taliban said the bombing late Thursday, which tore a massive crater in the road and overturned cars, was a "revenge attack" for US air strikes this month in the volatile province of Kunduz that left 32 civilians dead

The explosion, followed by sporadic gunfire, reverberated across the usually tranquil northern city, shearing off the facades of nearby buildings and blowing out windows several miles away.

"The suicide attacker rammed his explosives-laden car into the wall of the German consulate," local police chief Sayed Kamal Sadat told AFP.

All German staff from the consulate were unharmed, according to the foreign ministry in Berlin.

The city's hospitals received six dead bodies, including two killed by bullets, said local doctor Noor Mohammad Fayez. At least 128 others were wounded, some of them critically and many with shrapnel injuries, he added.

Deputy police chief Abdul Razaq Qadri gave a death toll of seven, including two motorcyclists who were shot dead by German forces close to the consulate after they refused to heed their warning to stop. A suspect had also been detained near the diplomatic mission on Friday morning, Qadri added.

"The consulate building has been heavily damaged," the German foreign ministry said in a statement. "Our sympathies go out to the Afghan injured and their families."

A diplomatic source in Berlin said Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had convened a crisis meeting soon after the attack.

The carnage underscores worsening insecurity in Afghanistan as Taliban insurgents ramp up nationwide attacks despite repeated government attempts to jump-start stalled peace negotiations.

President Ashraf Ghani condemned the "barbaric" attack, calling it a crime against humanity.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the "martyrdom attack" on the consulate had left "tens of invaders" dead. The insurgents routinely exaggerate battlefield claims. Posting a Google Earth image of the consulate on Twitter, Mujahid said the assault was in retaliation for American air strikes in Kunduz.

The latest attack in Mazar-i-Sharif comes just two days after a bitter US presidential election. Afghanistan got scarcely a passing mention in the election campaign -- even though the situation there will be an urgent matter for the new president.

President-elect Donald Trump is set to inherit America's longest war with no end in sight.