Indian consulate in Afghanistan attacked

Gunmen armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades attacked the Indian Consulate in western Afghanistan's Herat province Friday, injuring two policemen but no diplomatic staff, police said.

Indian officials said there had been a threat against its diplomats in Afghanistan but gave no other details.

At least three gunmen opened fire on the consulate from a nearby home, provincial police chief Abdul Sami Qatra told The Associated Press. Qatra and local police spokesman Raouf Ahmadi said police killed two gunmen.

Syed Akbaruddin, a spokesman for India's Ministry of External Affairs, said a deployment of the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police at the consulate held off the assault until Afghan forces arrived. That force is typically responsible for guarding most of India's roughly 2,200-mile border with China, much of it running over snowy mountain ranges.

Gunfire continued into Friday morning.

Mohammad Nasser Pashtun, a commander for Afghan quick reaction forces in Herat, said one attacker was still fighting.

"Two suicide bombers have been killed, one wounded and a fourth is still fighting with security forces," he said.

By midmorning Friday, the building was ablaze, though it wasn't clear what started the fire. Gen. Taj Mohammed Jahid of the Afghan National Army said soldiers believed the gunmen had hid in the basement. Jahid said soldiers continued to search for the gunmen.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack and no claims of responsibility have been made so far, although the Taliban and other loosely associated groups often carry out such attacks on Afghan and international targets around the country.

Security officials in India believe that previous attacks on Indian missions in Afghanistan have been carried out by the Haqqani network, an Al-Qaeda-linked group that has also long had ties with Pakistan's military intelligence.

Afghanistan is experiencing a rise in insurgent attacks as foreign troops plan to withdraw from the country by the end of the year and as the country faces a coming runoff presidential election.

India has invested more than $2 billion in Afghan projects, including roads and power projects. In August 2013, a botched bombing against the Indian Consulate in the Afghan city of Jalalabad near the border with Pakistan killed nine people, including six children. No Indian officials were hurt. Two attacks on the Indian Embassy in Kabul in 2008 and 2009 that killed 75 people.

Wire services