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| Taliban Strike German Consulate in Afghan City of Mazar-i-Sharif | Taliban Strike German Consulate in Afghan City of Mazar-i-Sharif |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents struck at the German consulate in the northern commercial hub of Mazar-i-Sharif late Thursday night, killing at least two people and wounding at least 84, Afghan officials said. | KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents struck at the German consulate in the northern commercial hub of Mazar-i-Sharif late Thursday night, killing at least two people and wounding at least 84, Afghan officials said. |
| Sayid Sarwar Hussaini, the spokesman for the regional police zone in northern Afghanistan, said there were two large explosions at the Mazar Hotel, which German diplomats have been using as their consulate in the city. A suicide car bomb apparently initiated the attack at the compound’s security wall, followed by gunfire and an explosion inside the hotel. | Sayid Sarwar Hussaini, the spokesman for the regional police zone in northern Afghanistan, said there were two large explosions at the Mazar Hotel, which German diplomats have been using as their consulate in the city. A suicide car bomb apparently initiated the attack at the compound’s security wall, followed by gunfire and an explosion inside the hotel. |
| Fighting continued in the area, according to Afghan officials. Mirwais Rabee, the head of the public health department in Balkh Province, which includes Mazar-i-Sharif, said the dead and wounded had been transferred to the regional hospital there. | |
| A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, called the attack a reprisal for airstrikes in Kunduz this week. | A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, called the attack a reprisal for airstrikes in Kunduz this week. |
| German troops have been based in northern Afghanistan for years. After the end of the formal NATO combat mission in 2015, roughly 1,000 German service members have remained based at a multinational military base near Mazar-i-Sharif, mostly responsible for training and supporting the Afghan security forces. | |
| A spokesman for the German special forces command at its headquarters in Potsdam, Germany, said that Afghan police forces responded and fought with Taliban attackers soon after the initial bombing outside the consulate. He said that soldiers from the military base nearby also came to the scene. | |
| Even as the Taliban have pushed major offensives in Afghanistan in recent years, including in the nearby northern city of Kunduz, attacks have been relatively rare in Mazar-i-Sharif. |