Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan hit by suspected suicide car bomb

A police car is parked near the place of bombing, near the Chinese embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, August 30, 2016. Xinhua/Chen Yao/via REUTERS


BISHKEK A suspected suicide bomber rammed the gates of the Chinese embassy in the Kyrgyz capital Bishek on Tuesday, killing himself and wounding three others, officials said.


An Interior Ministry spokesman said the car exploded inside the compound and quoted Deputy Prime Minister Janysh Razakov as describing the blast as "a terrorist act".


Police, who cordoned off the building and the adjacent area, and the GKNB state security service said they were investigating the incident, which occurred around 1000 local time (0400 GMT).


Authorities in Kyrgyzstan, a mostly Muslim former Soviet republic of 6 million people, routinely detain suspected Islamist militants accused of being linked to the Islamic State, which actively recruits from Central Asia.


An anti-Chinese militant group made up of ethnic Uighurs is also active in the region. In 2014, Kyrgyz border guards killed 11 people believed to be members of that group who had illegally crossed the Chinese-Kyrgyz border.


(Reporting by Olga Dzyubenko; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; editing by John Stonestreet)

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