Share

Three injured following bomb at Chinese Embassy in Kyrgyzstan

Three local staff from Kyrgyzstan were wounded in the attack and taken to hospital when the bomber rammed his vehicle into the gate of the embassy compound.

Advertisement

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi discussed the attack by phone with his Kyrgyz counterpart and requested that Kyrgyzstan “establish the truth as soon as possible, severely punish the culprits and prevent such an incident from happening again”, the Foreign Ministry reported on its website.

Kyrgyz police sources put the strength of the blast at an equivalent of up to 10 kilos of TNT, and one said body parts thought to be those of the attacker were found several hundred meters from the blast site.

Map of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia.

Stressing that China opposes terrorism in any form, Hua said China would continue to ensure the safety of the Chinese people and institutions in other countries.

The embassy compound and the area in the vicinity are now under police blockade due to security concerns, with bomb disposal experts working on the scene.

China’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack as an “extreme and violent act”, but refused to classify it as terrorism.

The Chinese regularly have blamed separatists and religious extremists for attacks in China’s northwest region of Xinjiang, which borders Kyrgyzstan.

Residents in the area said the blast had blown in their windows and caused their houses to shake.

The economically troubled ally of Russian Federation has seen twogovernments overthrown and ethnic violence claim hundreds oflives since it gained independence in 1991.

Security forces previous year said they had engaged in several fatal shootouts with suspected “terrorists” in the capital Bishkek.

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

In the past, Chinese officials have been targeted by Uighur terrorist in Kyrgyzstan, including in 2000 when a Chinese official was shot dead allegedly by a Uighur terrorist. Beijing has said that it offers the Uighurs a wide range of freedoms, including economic development, and it calls the separatists terrorists.

The security service of the former Soviet Central Asian nation – which borders China – said an “explosive device” had been placed inside the vehicle.

Advertisement

Kyrgyz border guards killed 11 people believed to be members of a Uighur anti-Chinese militant group after they were said to have illegally crossed the border in 2014.

At least 1 dead, several wounded as explosion rocks Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan