Suicide bombing outside Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan

Three security guards were wounded after the bomber rammed a gate at the Chinese embassy in the capital of Kyrgyzstan.

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, people gather near the site of an explosion in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan's deputy prime minister says a suicide bomber has rammed his car inShow more

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan // A van driven by a suicide bomber exploded after ramming through a gate at the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday, injuring three people.

“As a result of the explosion, only the suicide bomber terrorist died. Security guards were injured,” Kyrgyzstan’s deputy prime minister Jenish Razakov said.

Mr Razakov said the three wounded were all Kyrgyz employees of the embassy. Medics said their injuries were not serious.

Impoverished majority-Muslim Kyrgyzstan – which borders western China – has a history of political instability and battling extremism.

Authorities say the country faces the threat of attacks from ISIL after some 500 Kyrgyz left to fight for the militant group in Iraq and Syria.

Chinese officials have previously been targeted in attacks linked to radicals from China’s Uighur minority, which lives across the border in the restive Xinjiang province.

Law enforcement sources said that a Mitsubishi Delica van smashed through a gate at the embassy on Tuesday morning before exploding in the centre of the compound close to the ambassador’s residence.

A police source confirmed that the vehicle was driven by a suicide bomber and described the incident as a “terrorist attack”.

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

“We asked the Kyrgyz side to get to the bottom of this incident and hold whoever is behind this accountable,” spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.

Kyrgyz officials have not pointed the finger of blame at any specific group, but president Almazbek Atambayev ordered a thorough investigation.

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 from the attacker were found several hundred metres from the blast site.

Local residents said the blast had blown in their windows and caused their houses to shake.

Pictures posted on social media purporting to be from the embassy showed a gate smashed open and debris inside the compound.

Damage could be seen on the embassy buildings and police cordoned off the area.

Law enforcement officials also blocked traffic on one of the city’s main highways and were checking vehicles.

Employees from the Chinese and nearby American embassy on the edge of the city were evacuated, the Kyrgyz emergency service said.

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.

The authorities regularly announce that they have foiled attacks planned by ISIL in the country.

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

One of the three suicide bombers who carried out a deadly attack blamed on ISIL at the international airport in the Turkish city Istanbul in June was reported to be from Kyrgyzstan.

In 2014, Kyrgyz authorities said they killed 11 people, including Uighur rebels, trying to cross into the country.

Chinese officials in Kyrgyzstan have previously been targeted, with one shot dead in 2000 in an attack blamed on radicals from the Uighur minority.

Violence has plagued China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang, in recent years, sometimes spreading beyond it.

Beijing blames the violence on separatist terrorists with overseas connections while rights groups point to what they say is discrimination against the Uighurs’ culture and religion.

Kyrgyzstan is gearing up to mark 25 years since independence from the Soviet Union with celebrations in Bishkek on Wednesday.

* Agence France-Presse