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German Consulate In Northern Afghanistan Attacked

The German Consulate General building pictured in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, shown before the attack.
Thomas Trutschel
/
Photothek via Getty Images
The German Consulate General building pictured in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, shown before the attack.

A suicide car bomber driving a truck rammed the gate of the German consulate in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif late Thursday. News media quote Afghan officials as saying at least two people were killed and dozens injured in the attack.

The New York Times reports, citing a regional police zone spokesman, that there were two large explosions. The first blast initiated the attack and was followed by gunfire. The paper says another explosion was heard inside the compound.

According to the BBC, the consulate sustained "massive damage" and NATO troops were evacuating its personnel.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said his group launched the attack in response to recent coalition airstrikes in the northern city of Kunduz, according to The Associated Press. Dozens of Afghan civilians, including women and children, were killed in that operation which is under investigation.

Germany has almost 1,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, largely for training and backing up Afghan security forces.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Richard Gonzales is NPR's National Desk Correspondent based in San Francisco. Along with covering the daily news of region, Gonzales' reporting has included medical marijuana, gay marriage, drive-by shootings, Jerry Brown, Willie Brown, the U.S. Ninth Circuit, the California State Supreme Court and any other legal, political, or social development occurring in Northern California relevant to the rest of the country.