Death toll from US consulate attack soars to 10

HERAT CITY (PAN attack on the US consulate in western Herat province reached 10, a public representative said on Saturday.

A group of suicide bombers stormed the consulate, an attack that lasted five hours and involved an exchange of gunfire. The facility was targetted with rockets and improvised explosive devices.

Provincial council chief, Syed Wahid Qatali, told reporters the bodies of six Afghans, including consulate guards and officials, had been shifted from the site to a local hospital.

A policeman, two security guards and seven civilians were killed and 19 others wounded in the incident, he said.

Herat police spokesman, Col. Abdul Rauf Ahmadi, confirmed the death toll had risen. He said six bodies had been found under the debris and two others succumbed to their injuries in hospital.

Herat Zonal Hospital spokesman Mohammad Rafiq Sherzai said 19 people — mostly local residents including women, children and policemen — were wounded by glass shards.

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, claimed responsibility for the attack and said 12 foreign and six Afghan soldiers had been killed.

A resident of Herat City, Ramin, said one of his friends working as IT manager at the consulate was among the dead. His friend has been working there for a year to support his seven-member family, he concluded.

mds/mud

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