BISHKEK: A van driven by a suicide bomber exploded after ramming through a gate at the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday, wounding three people, authorities said.

“As a result of the explosion, only the suicide bomber terrorist died. Security guards were injured,” Kyrgyzstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Jenish Razakov told journalists at the scene.

Razakov said the three wounded were all Kyrgyz employees of the Chinese embassy and that they had been taken to hospital. Local medics said their injuries were not serious.

Police sources told AFP that a Mitsubishi Delica van smashed through a gate at the embassy on Tuesday morning before blowing up in the centre of the compound close to the ambassador’s residence.

A police source confirmed that the vehicle was driven by a suicide bomber and described the incident as a “terrorist attack”. Body parts thought to be from the attacker were found several hundred metres from the blast site, a source said.

The security service of the ex-Soviet Central Asian nation — which borders China — said an “explosive device” had been placed inside the vehicle, an official said.

An AFP journalist close to the scene said that damage could be seen on the embassy buildings and that police had cordoned off the area as emergency services worked.

Employees from the Chinese and nearby American embassy on the edge of the city were evacuated, the Kyrgyz emergency service said.

Impoverished majority-Muslim Kyrgyzstan has a history of political instability and battling Islamist extremism.

The economically troubled ally of Russia has seen two governments overthrown and ethnic violence claim hundreds of lives since it gained independence in 1991.

The authorities regularly announce that they have foiled attacks planned by the militant Islamic State group in the country.

Security forces last year said they had engaged in several deadly shootouts with suspected “terrorists” in Bishkek.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2016