Al-Qaida and the Islamic State group also have threatened to attack Chinese targets in retaliation for alleged repression of Chinese Muslims, particularly those from the Turkic-speaking Uighur majority native to Xinjiang.
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In the Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, the suicide bomber rammed the gates of the Chinese Embassy.
Kyrgyzstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Zhenish Razakov called the incident a “suicide auto bombing attack”.
The Chinese foreign ministry said it was deeply shocked by the attack and condemned the “violent and extreme act”.
It said a source in law enforcement had claimed an equivalent of 6-7 kilogrammes of TNT explosive had been used in the blast, adding that the force of the explosion had ensured nearly nothing of the vehicle remained. The bomber died after the blast, and at least three embassy employees were injured.
Local residents said that the blast had shattered windows and shook their houses.
“We will work with the Kyrgyzstan side to quickly ascertain specific information on the people and organisations that carried out this terrorist attack”, she said.
The State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan, an intelligence agency, has initiated a criminal investigation into the attack targeting the Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek, the press service of the agency said on Tuesday. It said it had been in touch with its embassy personnel in Bishkek and all were accounted for.
An economically troubled ally of Russia, Kyrgyzstan has seen two governments overthrown and ethnic violence claim hundreds of lives since it gained independence in 1991.
“This is the first terrorist attack in the country”.
No-one has yet said they were behind the attack.
A Kyrgyz senior security officer told Xinhua news agency that it was a suicide vehicle bombing attack. Last week, SCMP reported that Guangzhou police had told local hostels to turn away tourists from five Muslim countries – Kyrgyzstan not being one of them.
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Kyrgyzstan and the other ex-Soviet Central Asian nations have come under fire for using a purported terror threat to silence criticism of their secular regimes.
