Kabul: A suicide car bomb exploded in Kabul outside the Indian embassy yesterday morning, killing at least 17 people and injuring 83.
The explosion, claimed by the Taliban, occurred at around 8.30am during the rush hour as many were travelling to work. The Ministry of Interior said that a 4x4 vehicle close to the embassy wall caused the blast.
Interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP the toll had risen to 17 from an initial 12, including two police officers and 15 civilians. Fifty civilians were among the wounded, with 13 police officers also injured.
Eye witnesses described a scene of devastation, with a number of destroyed cars and huge clouds of smoke along Kabul's Passport Lane close to the embassy. The area was quickly sealed off as the wounded were rushed to hospital and a clean-up operation began.
India's foreign secretary, Nirupama Rao, told the media she believed the blast was targeted at the embassy, as the vehicle was parked by the compound's outer wall.
An Indian diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity said that "the dead would have been many more" had the blast occurred an hour later when the embassy's visa section was due to open.
In a statement on their website, the Taliban said that one of their "martyrs" had carried out the attack in the heavily-fortified central diplomatic area, and said the Indian embassy "was the main target".
Last summer the Indian embassy was targeted in another huge suicide car bombing, killing over 50 people and injuring over 140.
Such attacks have escalated in the capital this summer.
