Oct 8, 2009, 13:12 GMT
Kabul - A suicide bomber attacked the Indian embassy in Kabul on Thursday, killing 17 people and injuring 76 others as the Afghan Foreign Ministry blamed foreign elements for the blast and the Taliban said that the embassy was the main target of the attack.
The Afghan Interior Ministry said the attack during Thursday's rush hour killed 15 civilians and two police officers, while 63 civilians and 13 policemen guarding the highly fortified embassy were injured.
The ministry had earlier said that 12 were killed and 84 others were wounded. Zemarai Bashary, an Interior Ministry spokesman, confirmed that the attack was carried out by a suicide car bomber.
Police officers at the scene of the bombing also said the explosion was caused by a suicide car bombing, pointing to parts of a mangled vehicle as evidence.
A source from the embassy, which is located near the Interior Ministry, said there were no deaths among Indian nationals but a wall surrounding the embassy compound had been destroyed and embassy windows shattered.
In a statement posted on the insurgents' website, the Taliban said 35 people, including senior Indian embassy officials, Afghan and foreign soldiers, were killed when one of their bombers, identified only as Khalid, targeted the embassy.
'The embassy building, which was the main target of the attack, was destroyed in the powerful blast,' the statement said, adding the Interior Ministry and the passport department buildings were also damaged.
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said in New Delhi that the attack was directed at the Indian mission but all its personnel and staff were safe. She said three members of the Indo-Tibetan border police force that guards the mission were injured.
India's top Foreign Ministry official said the intensity of the blast was similar to an attack in July 2008 on the Kabul embassy. It killed more than 50 people, including four Indian nationals and wounded more than 100 others.
She said stringent security measures taken since then had prevented greater damage from occurring Thursday.
The Afghan Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the attack was orchestrated by the same group stationed outside Afghanistan that planned and executed the first attack on the Indian embassy in July last year.
Afghan and Indian officials at the time said some elements inside Pakistan's intelligence service, Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI), were behind the bombing.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned Thursday's blast in a statement released by his office.
'This heinous act of terror was an obvious attack on civilians and the perpetrators of this attack and those who planned it were vicious terrorists who killed innocent people for their malicious goals,' the president said.
The United Nations Envoy for Afghanistan, Kai Eide, also condemned the attack, while the US embassy in Kabul said 'There is no justification for this kind of senseless violence.'
In Brussels, the European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said that his organization would not be deterred Thursday's deadly attack.
'The perpetrators will not succeed in destabilising Afghan society and undermining international efforts in Afghanistan,' Solana said in a statement.
Kabul has seen a series of suicide attacks in the past two months. At least four suicide bombers have been unleashed by Taliban militants on NATO-led forces in the city since August, but most of the victims were Afghan civilians.
In an attack last month, six Italian soldiers and 10 Afghan civilians were killed when a suicide bomber targeted an Italian military convoy on the road to Kabul airport.
Footage from Tolo, a private television channel, showed that two armoured vehicles, one of them with a UN number plate, were damaged in the attack, but it was not known if any of the occupants were hurt. Several shops in a recently built market nearby also were shaken by the blast.
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