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Chinese Embassy takes near hit
By Tong Haihua (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-07-29 00:25
A rocket hit the road in front of the Chinese Embassy in Afghanistan at
around midnight on Tuesday, Kabul authorities said.
The incident occurred amid political tensions and tightened security in the
Afghan capital since transitional president Hamid Karzai Monday dropped a major
warlord as his running mate for the October 9 election.
International security forces in Kabul examine the
explosion site Tuesday. [Xinhua] |
"No one was
injured in the blast which happened about 11:53 pm on Tuesday,"Sun Yuxi, China's
ambassador to Afghanistan said in a telephone interview with China Daily.
The attack left a 60-centimetre-wide crater in the road 14 metres away from
the embassy's Consulate Department.
The gate of the embassy was left with a 1-centimetre-wide hole, and the
outside wall of the embassy suffered a divot as big as a bottle lid and seven or
eight pockmarks, while the inside wall of the embassy was slightly damaged, Sun
said.
A gatekeeper's room and another housing eight police officers were also left
slightly marred, Sun added.
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers cordoned off the
road, collected shrapnel and are carrying out an investigation, Sun said.
The blast site is only four metres away from the house for the Minister of
Health in Afghanistan, so whether the Chinese embassy was the intended target is
not clear,Sun said.
The Chinese Embassy has asked the ISAF to notify the Chinese side of the
investigation's results as they are known, Sun said.
The embassy has taken measures to ensure security, including the
establishment of a second defensive gate, and an increase in the number of
police, Sun said.
The explosion was much stronger and nearer than previous rocket attacks in
the area, said Guo Hui, secretary to the Chinese Ambassador.
This was the fourth rocket attack in the area in the last two months. The
country's Presidential Palace, Foreign Ministry and the UN headquarters in
Afghanistan are also located in the vicinity.
Fighters loyal to the ousted Taliban are blamed for frequent attacks on
Kabul, although they rarely inflict serious casualties. One woman was killed
earlier this month by rocket shrapnel.
Around 900 people have been killed over the past year in a wave of violence
mostly blamed on remnants of the hard-line Islamic regime, opposed to the
US-backed government and its plans for elections in October and
April.
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