A car has exploded after ramming the gates of the Chinese embassy in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, with at least one person killed and three others injured on Tuesday.
The car exploded near the embassy in Bishkek, killing its driver and wounding three people, the health ministry said, reports the Guardian.
Kyrgyz security officials quoted by the local AKIpress news agency described the blast as a terrorist attack.
The news agency also quoted the chief of security at the Chinese embassy as saying that no staff there had been injured.
Employees from the Chinese and nearby American embassy were evacuated.
Kyrgyz security officials are at the scene conducting an investigation.
China strongly condemned the suicide car bomb attack, the first of its kind on a Chinese diplomatic mission.
The attack sent shock waves as Beijing probed the involvement of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement, an Al Qaeda affiliated separatist outfit, blamed for a number of violent attacks in the restive Xinjiang, home of Uyghur Muslims.
The Chinese foreign ministry expressed shock over the attack and condemned it as an extreme and violent act.
“This morning Chinese embassy was attacked by a car bomb causing minor injuries to three embassy staff. We are deeply shocked by this and strongly condemn this extreme and violent act,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Hua Chunying said.
The foreign ministry has activated the emergency response mechanism and asked the Kyrgyzstan government to take all necessary measures to ensure the safety of Chinese institutions and personnel and “get to the bottom of this incident and bring those involved to justice”, Hua said.
Photograph: Twitter
-- With inputs from PTI
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