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Herat: A bicycle bomb outside the Pakistani consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat wounded a police guard and two civilians yesterday, a witness said.
Afghanistan has suffered scores of Taliban suicide and roadside bombs that have killed more than 200 civilians already this year, but Herat is relatively peaceful and most violence there analysts say is carried out by armed gangs and criminals.
No damage
The explosives were attached to a bicycle near a police kiosk outside the consulate, wounding a police guard and a woman with her child. There was no damage to the consulate.
Afghanistan is battling a raging Taliban-led insurgency, but much of the violence has occurred in the south and the east of the country, although the west has not been immune.
The growing instability in the country has strained relations with Pakistan, which Afghan officials contest is not doing enough to crack down on militants who hide out on its side of the border in the east.
Afghan-Pakistan relations hit a new low after a huge bombing outside the Indian Embassy in Kabul on July 7. Both Indian and Afghan officials have said their information indicates Pakistani involvement in that attack, which killed some 60 people.
Pakistan is unsettled by the growing influence of India in Afghanistan, analysts say, but Islamabad has denied any interference in its western neighbour and says it wants nothing but a peaceful and stable Afghanistan. Pakistan had requested greater security at its diplomatic missions in Afghanistan, an embassy official in Kabul said.
Herat is one of the most peaceful and prosperous cities in Afghanistan with a new road to the nearby Iranian border boosting trade.
Afghan envoy summoned
Islamabad: Pakistan yesterday demanded of Kabul to ensure safety of its diplomatic missions and their personnel following the bomb explosion outside its consulate.
The Afghan ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry to convey grave concern over the Herat incident, an official statement said.
"The Government of Pakistan holds the Government of Afghanistan responsible for the safety and security of its personnel in its embassy in Kabul and consulates in Herat, Kandhar, Jalalabad and Mazar-e-Sharif," the statement said.
"We hope that the Government of Afghanistan will take its responsibility seriously," it added.
The Afghan government "strongly" condemned blast outside Pakistani consulate later yesterday. No one was injured in the building.
- Staff Report
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