Three suicide bombers trying to attack an Indian consulate in eastern Afghanistan have sparked a shootout with guards, leaving at least nine civilians dead.
The Saturday assault, which ended when the militants detonated a car bomb that left charred debris scattered in central Jalalabad near the Pakistan border, did not appear to damage the consulate itself.
Indian officials said all of the facility's staff escaped unharmed.
The Taliban has denied responsibility, suspicion instead falling upon Pakistan-based terrorist groups blamed for previous violence against Indian interests in Afghanistan.
The bombing comes at a time when Afghanistan and India are trying to patch up relations with Pakistan.
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Islamabad considers Afghanistan its strategic backyard, and has always viewed India - with which it has fought several wars in the past 65 years - as a rival.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has blamed Pakistani influence over the Taliban for much of the violence, just last week announced plans to travel to Islamabad.
The two nations have had tense ties for years, and Afghanistan has accused Pakistan in the past of supporting the Taliban in the movement's fight against the Afghan government.
But the election two months ago of a new prime minister in Pakistan had raised hopes in Kabul that Islamabad would be more open to peace talks with the Taliban.
Saturday's attack began when two men wearing explosive vests got out of a car as it approached a checkpoint outside the consulate.
Their arrival immediately prompted a police guard start shooting, said Masum Khan Hashimi, the deputy chief for Nangarhar province.
As the two sides exchanged fire, a third militant still in the car detonated a large bomb inside the vehicle.
The blast killed nine bystanders and wounded another 24 people, including a policeman.
Six of the dead and three of the wounded were children studying the Quran inside a nearby mosque, according to police and Jalalabad hospital director Dr Humayun Zahir.
All three attackers also died, although it was not clear how many were killed by police fire and how many by the explosion.
There was no indication that Saturday's attack was linked to US warnings of an al-Qaeda threat that has prompted Washington to close its embassies in the Muslim world for the weekend.
The Afghan Taliban denied in a text message that it had carried out the attack.
