A suicide bombing outside the Russian Embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul killed 2 members of the embassy staff and at least 1 Afghan civilian in what Moscow denounced as an “unacceptable terrorist act”, writes ABC NEWS

The blast went off at the entrance to the embassy’s consular section where Afghans were waiting for news about their visas, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry. A Russian diplomat had emerged from the building to call out the names of candidates for visas when the explosion occurred.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, the latest in a series of attacks since the Taliban seized power a year ago, deposing a Western-backed government and capping their 20-year insurgency.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the explosion “a terrorist act, absolutely unacceptable”. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the embassy has enhanced its security in the wake of the attack, and that “additional forces of the Taliban authorities”, including the Taliban-run intelligence service, were brought in.