KABUL, July 31, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Afghan security force members inspect the blast site in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 31, 2017. Two explosions and ensuing gunfire rocked central part of the Afghan capital of Kabul on Monday, witnesses and sources said. (Xinhua/Jawid Omid)

BAGHDAD, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Monday said that two of its embassy employees were killed in a suicide attack outside the Iraqi embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul.

The ministry also said efforts are underway to evacuate two other employees from the embassy.

"The charge d'affaires of the Iraqi embassy in Kabul was evacuated to the Egyptian embassy, and attempts continued to evacuate two other embassy staff," the ministry spokesman, Ahmed Jamal, said in a brief statement.

"The attack has so far killed two of its Afghan guards," Jamal said.

In a separate statement, Jamal said "two of the diplomats of the Iraqi embassy in Kabul were trading fire with the terrorists who broke into the embassy compound."

Jamal did not clarify whether the two embassy staff stuck in the compound are the same ones who were fighting the terrorists inside the embassy.

Earlier on the day, gunmen and suicide bombers attacked the Iraqi embassy in Kabul after a car bomb blast, which caused a plume of grey smoke to rise above the scene.

According to local media, the Islamic State (IS) group has claimed responsibility for the attack.