12 dead, several hurt in Kabul bombing outside Indian embassy

At leastu00a012 people were killed andu00a090 injured in a suicide bombing outside the Indian embassy in the Afghan capital on Thursday. No Indians were killed but some Indian security personnel were wounded in the blast that damaged the outer wall of the embassy and shattered windows.

The explosion occurred at about 8.27 am on the heavily fortified road in downtown Kabul where the Indian embassy and the Afghan interior ministry is located.

A police source, who asked not to be named, said at the site of the attack that the blast was triggered by a suicide attacker in a car.

Sayed Kabir Amiri, an official at the public health ministry, said that 67 people were wounded in the blast.

TV visuals showed massive destruction in the area with several cars extensively damaged and rescue workers carrying away the injured and the dead.

Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Jayant Prasad said no Indians had been killed but some security personnel posted at the outer perimeter of the embassy had been injured.

He described the explosion as being 'of the same intensity' as the July 7, 2008 bombing in which 44 people, including two Indian diplomats, had been killed.

"The explosion that I heard at my residence was exactly the same that I heard at my home (in July 2008)," Prasad told CNN-IBN news channel.

"No Indian has been severely injured or killed in the attack," Prasad said.

There was damage to the "watch tower and some of the security personnel on the outer perimeter" had been hurt, but the injuries were not serious.

Prasad said that there was damage to chancery premises "with doors and windows blown off" and added that the embassy wall took the impact of the blast.

On July 7 last year, 44 people, including high-ranking Indian embassy officials, were killed in the suicide attack at the Indian embassy that also wounded 147 people. The attack had marked the deadliest suicide bombing since the fall of Taliban regime in 2001.

Defence Attache Brigadier R Mehta and political counselor V Venkat Rao were killed, along with two Indo-Tibetan Border Police security personnel - Ajay Panthia and Roop Singh. An Afghan national employed at the Indian mission also died.

Kabul has seen a series of suicide attacks in the past two months.