A suspected suicide car bomb has exploded at the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, injuring several people. (Reuters)

A suspected suicide car bomb has exploded at the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, injuring several people. (Reuters)

A car driven by a suicide bomber rammed the gate of the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, on Tuesday and exploded, reportedly killing the driver and injuring three others.

The Mitsubishi Delica broke through the embassy’s gate, went about 150 feet and burst into flames, according to local and Chinese media reports. Photographs and video from the scene showed smoke rising from the compound.

A local news site, 24.kg, reported that the Chinese and U.S. embassies were being evacuated.

Officials from Kyrgyzstan and China offered conflicting accounts of what happened and why.

Kyrgyzstan’s deputy prime minister reportedly called it a “terrorist” attack and said three Kyrgyz nationals were killed.

[China’s war on terror becomes all-out attack on Islam in Xinjiang]

In a news conference, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Hua Chunying, steered clear of using the word “terrorism,” calling the incident an “extreme violent attack” that injured three Chinese nationals.

“So far, no individual or organization has claimed to be responsible for this attack,” she said. “We have urged Kyrgyzstan to get to the bottom of this incident and release the investigation result as soon as possible.”

China says it is engaged in a “war on terror” against militant groups with links to Xinjiang, a vast, restive territory that shares a border with Kyrgyzstan.

Foreign observers and rights groups have long questioned the nature of the campaign, accusing China of using the threat of terrorism to target the region’s mostly Muslim, Turkic-speaking Uighur minority.

Kyrgyz authorities, who also have grappled with Islamist extremism in the past, said they are investigating the embassy attack.

One of the three suicide bombers who attacked Istanbul’s airport on June 28 was identified as a Kyrgyz national.

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In western China, authorities grapple with how to handle Ramadan

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world