Afghan Taliban strikes near U.S. consulate.

Afghan Taliban strikes near U.S. consulate.

Official says a car bomb has gone off near the U.S. consulate in western Afghanistan.

Afghan security personnel investigate the site of a suicide car bombing and a gunfight near the U.S. consulate in Herat Province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan on Sept. 13, 2013.(Photo: Hoshang Hashimi, AP)

USA TODAY | 13 Sep 2013 :: Taliban militants staged a suicide car bombing outside the United States consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat early Friday, killing two Afghan police and a security guard.

U.S. and Afghan security forces then fought off an attack by insurgents. No Americans were injured in the attack and the U.S. consulate said its staff "performed superbly."

The Taliban subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to the Associated Press.

A statement posted on the ISAF: Nato forces in Afghanistan Facebook page from U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan James Cunningham said: "We are grateful for the quick response of the Afghan and ISAF security forces who secured the facility and kept our personnel safe."

State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf told said in a statement that the assault began around 5:30 a.m., when "a truck carrying attackers drove to the front gate, and attackers — possibly firing rocket propelled grenades and assault rifles — started firing at Afghan forces and security guards on the exterior of the gates. Shortly after, the entire truck exploded, extensively damaging the front gate."

"Afghan civilians and Afghans on contract to the consulate were also killed or injured," Ambassador Cunningham said, without giving any figures.

Robert Hilton, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, said that "all consulate personnel are safe and accounted for."

Herat lies near Afghanistan's border with Iran and is considered one of the better developed and safer cities in the country, with a strong Iranian influence. Most of the violence in Afghanistan has been concentrated in the east and the south.(Courtesy:USA TODAY)

Attacks kill 17 people in Iraq.

Attacks kill 17 people in Iraq.

Bloodshed washing over country since April has left more than 3,000 people dead

BAGHDAD | AP | 25 Jul 2013 ::  Insurgents assaulted a police headquarters in northern Iraq early Wednesday, killing nine policemen, part of a series of attacks that left at least 17 dead in a growing surge of violence.

The attackers struck the town of Bashmaya outside the city of Mosul, one of the major flashpoints in a wave of bloodshed that has washed over the country since April and left more than 3,000 people dead. The scale of the violence is intensifying fears of a return to the widespread sectarian killing that pushed the country to the brink of civil war after the 2003 US-led invasion.

A police official said nine policemen were killed and two wounded in the initial attack. An ambulance rushing to the scene was hit by a roadside bomb, wounding the driver and his assistant, the official said.

A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not allowed to brief reporters.

Insurgents this year have frequently attacked security forces in Mosul, a longtime militant stronghold.

On Monday, a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into an army convoy in Mosul, killing at least 13 people — including 10 soldiers. Police found the bodies of four off-duty policemen Tuesday on a road with bullet wounds in their heads. Gunmen in a speeding car also shot dead two other off-duty policemen as they were walking down a street.

Also Wednesday, a car bomb exploded as an army patrol passed by outside the northern city of Kirkuk, killing an officer and a solider, police Lt. Col. Abbas Qadir said. Five soldiers were wounded, he said. Kirkuk is 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad.

And in Baghdad, police found three bullet-ridden corpses, police and medical officials said on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief reporters. They also reported that a bomb exploded in the evening in the religiously mixed northern neighborhood of Qahira, killing three and wounding 11.

In the northern city of Tuz Khormato, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Baghdad, a bomb hidden in a motorized cart exploded in a residential area, wounding 35 people and damaging several houses, police Col. Hussein Ali Rasheed said.

The security situation in Iraq began to deteriorate sharply after security forces cracked down in April on a protest camp in the northern city of Hawija, sparking clashes in which 44 civilians and one member of the security forces were killed, according to estimates by the United Nations.

Overall levels of violence have since escalated and insurgent attacks have become more audacious, including raids this week against two high-security prisons near Baghdad that killed dozens and set free hundreds of inmates, including al-Qaeda-linked militants.

On Tuesday, al-Qaeda’s Iraqi branch claimed responsibility for the attack.(Courtesy:The Times of Israel)