At Least Three Killed as Insurgents Attack U.S. Consulate in Afghan West

At least three people were killed when insurgents attacked the U.S. consulate in western Afghanistan’s main city on Friday, detonating a powerful truck bomb outside the front gates and launching a gunbattle with security forces, officials said.

The bold attack in Herat, claimed by the Taliban, once again underscored a worrying security picture as Afghanistan prepares to take over from foreign combat troops after 12 years of war and stage crucial presidential elections next year.

While the circumstances of the attack were initially unclear, a spokesman for the U.S. embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul said all U.S. personnel in the consulate in Herat were safe and had been accounted for.

He described the incident as a “complex” attack that included a car bomb. A U.S. State Department statement later said the attack was over.

Herat police chief General Rahmatullah Safi said a police officer and a translator had been killed and two Afghan staff working in the consulate had been wounded.

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