A suicide car bomb attack near the Indian Embassy in Kabul killed at least seven people and wounded 60 others on Thursday, officials said, adding that their offices were targeted.
A similar attack last year killed at least 58 people. The bomb went off at about 8:30 a.m. (0400 GMT), just as offices and shops were opening for the day, and damaged a security checkpoint outside the embassy, said staffer J.P. Singh. “But there were no casualties on the Indian side,” Singh added. The explosion’s impact shattered car windows and toppled restaurant walls. Paramedics dug through twisted metal and debris, looking for survivors. The embassy is in the center of Kabul on a shop-lined street across from the Interior Ministry and several other government buildings. The blast was an obvious assault on civilians, said a statement from President Hamid Karzai’s office.
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“The perpetrators of this attack and those who planned it were vicious terrorists who killed innocent people for their malicious goals,” the statement added. About a year ago, another suicide car bomb detonated outside the embassy. Among the 58 people killed in the July 7 attack were two Indian diplomats and 14 students at a nearby school. More than 100 others were wounded in that blast. Afghan and Indian officials accused Pakistan’s spy agency of involvement in that attack. Pakistan denied the accusation.
