Afghan police secure the site of the suicide car bomb blast near the Indian embassy in Kabul. (REUTERS)
Posted on 07/07/2008 1:38:04 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
KABUL: A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-filled car into the gates of the Indian embassy in Kabul, leaving at least 40 people dead, officials and a witness said. ( Watch video )
"The number of deaths at this time is 28, while 141 people were wounded, half of them hospitalised," health ministry spokesman Abdullah Fahim said, adding that the figure was based on information from several hospitals.
The blast destroyed about four cars outside the embassy in the heart of the city, and flesh and broken limbs were scattered at the scene, an Afghan witness said. The bomber hit the thick embassy gate, he said.
"It was a suicide car bomb in front of the Indian embassy," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said. "There are casualties but at this time I don't have a figure."
The powerful rush-hour blast sent a plume of brown smoke into the air and could be heard across the city centre. It shattered the windows of shops several hundred metres (yards) away, an AFP reporter said.
Afghan police secure the site of the suicide car bomb blast near the Indian embassy in Kabul. (REUTERS)
Police immediately sealed off the scene and kept people away.
Kabul has in recent years been hit by a series bomb attacks, including suicide attacks, blamed mainly on Taliban.
The last blast in Kabul was on June 1, when a remote-controlled bomb blew up near a minivan taking Afghan army staff to work. A woman was killed and five other people wounded.
Days earlier, a suicide blast in the city struck a convoy of the US-led coalition military force which is helping Afghanistan defeat a Taliban insurgency and train its army.
The soldiers all survived but three civilians were killed.
One of the most daring rebel attacks in the city was on April 27 when militants opened fire on President Hamid Karzai as he was about to address the country's largest annual military parade.
A parliamentarian and two other Afghans were killed, but the president was unhurt. The attack shocked Afghanistan and its allies.
The Taliban were ousted in an invasion led by the United States in late 2001 after the rebels refused to hand over al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden following the September 11 attacks on the United States.
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htterr/articles/20060217.aspx
February 17, 2006: India is sending 300 special police (Indo-Tibetan Border Police, or ITBP) to Afghanistan to help guard Indians working there on reconstruction projects. Eighty of the ITBP are already in southern Afghanistan, guarding Indians helping to build roads there. Taliban terrorists have attacked the Indian workers several times, with gunfire and bombs. Last year, twenty ITBP were sent to Kabul to guard the Indian embassy. India has been very friendly to the new Afghan government, taking advantage of Afghan fear that Pakistan is again interfering with the internal affairs of Afghanistan. Most Afghans blame (or credit) Pakistani military intelligence (the ISI) for helping organize the Taliban, and assisting them in taking over the country in the 1990s. Pakistani interference in Afghan affairs has gone on for a long time. From Pakistan's point of view, this is self-defense, mainly because there are more Pushtuns (who comprise 40 percent of all Afghans) in Pakistan, than in Afghanistan. The Pushtun (or "Pathans," as they are still called in Pakistan) have long been a problem for the rest of Pakistan. The Pushtun tribes have long raided to the south, sometimes getting as far as the Indian border. This has been going on for thousands of years, so it's not a new problem. While the Afghan Pushtuns are in the Afghan government (president Karzai is a Pushtun), in Pakistan they are a smaller, and more troublesome minority. There is more support for Islamic terrorism among Pushtuns, on both sides of the border, than anywhere else in the region. This is mainly because of the traditional conservatism of the tribes, and distrust of outsiders (anyone who isn't a Pushtun). Pakistan sees the Indian ITBP in Afghanistan as part of a plot to assist tribal rebels in Baluchistan. In some ways, the Baluchi tribes of southwest Pakistan, are even more trouble than the Pushtuns. Several Baluchi tribes are currently in open rebellion against the Pakistani government, and the Pakistanis see it as only natural that the Indians would aid them. There is little hard evidence of this, but the belief persists. The Baluchis are similar to the Pushtuns (an Indo-Aryan people, related to the Iranians and Europeans), right down to the Islamic conservatism and suspicion of outsiders (including Pushtuns.) Osama bin Laden is believed hiding out among sympathetic Pushtun or Baluchi tribesmen. Both groups are big fans of bin Laden and al Qaeda.
Kabul blast: 4 Indians among 41 killed
http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jul/07kabul.htm
Last Updated: July 07, 2008 14:13 IST
Four Indians among forty-one people were killed in a suicide blast near the Indian embassy in Kabul on Monday.
The suicide bomber exploded two embassy vehicles as they were entering the premises, sources said, the intensity of the blast blowing off the gates of the embassy. Some buildings inside were also damaged in the blast.
Four Indian nationals were killed the suicide attack, Indian Ambassador Jayan Prasad said.
A defence attache of the rank of brigadier and an Indian Foreign Service officer were among those killed.
In the wake of the suicide attack, a high-level meeting was called in New Delhi by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to discuss the situation.
Mukherjee deliberated with Defence Minister A K Antony and senior officials of the external affairs ministry about the situation, sources said.
The meeting was called soon after the suicide attack.
Meanwhile, India on Monday strongly condemned the terror attack at its embassy in Kabul and asserted that such "cowardly" acts would not deter it from fulfilling commitments to the government and people of Afghanistan.
The external affairs ministry said casualties were feared among the Indian personnel and details are being ascertained.
"We are in touch with the ambassador who is supervising arrangements for medical assistance," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said in a statement.
"The government of India strongly condemns this cowardly terrorist attack on its diplomatic mission in Afghanistan," he said.
"Such acts of terror will not deter us from fulfilling our commitments to the government and people of Afghanistan," the spokesman said.
About 3,000 Indians are working on various reconstruction and developmental projects in Afghanistan and they have often been subjected to attacks by Taliban.
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Sigh. They also pulled off a bombing today in Islamabad, Pakistan, at the site of the “Red Mosque.” About 20 people have been reported dead so far.
(islamic, mohammad, koran, jihad Mental Derangement Syndrome)
Is there a difference between this report and sheer gibberish?
So every man, woman and child of Islam in Afghanistan, including the Afghan army that we train and fight alongside of, and including our ally President Karzai, should be killed?
Who’s mentally ill? Couldn’t be you, naaaaah, you’re totally sane, riiiiight.
Tell you what, I say destroy the Taliban and hang on to the Muslims who are on our side in this war.
And just because I haven’t posted this to everyone else on this thread who has forgotten, or will forget that President Karzai and our allied fighting forces of Afghanistan are Muslims, too, doesn’t mean this is aimed only at “chuckles”.
If the shoe fits...
Thanks for posting this detail of another ugly event.
41 killed in Kabul suicide strike at Indian embassy
*****************************EXCERPT***************************
Four Indians, including the defense attache, were among those killed. Most of those killed or wounded were Afghans waiting in line to apply for visas to India.
President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack and said it was aimed at destroying relations between India and Afghanistan. He intimated Pakistan was behind the attack. “The president strongly condemned the terrorist attack against the Indian embassy in Kabul and considers it the work of enemies of Afghanistan-India friendship," Karzai said in a statement released by his office.
During the reign of the Taliban in the 1990s, Pakistan backed the extremists, who served as “strategic depth” against India. India backed the Northern Alliance, a grouping of anti-Taliban fighters based out of northern Afghanistan. The Taliban have targeted Indian road crews and aid workers inside Afghanistan in the past.
The Taliban denied being behind the Kabul attack. "We have not done this," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the media.
With the way news travels, we probably will find out who was responsible within days if not within hours.
“I say destroy the Taliban and hang on to the Muslims who are on our side in this war.”
There are very few who are “on our side.” The Afghans go to whoever gives them money or leaves them alone.
Ping to #14
The Indian Military Attache, a Brigadier, and a senior Foreign Service officer were killed. Attack seems to have timed their vehicles arrival at the embassy. Two Indo Tibet Border Police troopers were also among the dead.
Rest seem to have been ordinary people waiting in line for visas.
Heinous.
Indian propaganda, the ISI would never do something like that, despite (from the article) what the Afghans say...
>>Afghanistan has accused Pakistani agents of being behind a number of attacks
Islam is incompatible with "normal" people. There are liar's that say they are Christians, just like Muslims may not "really" believe. If they are true believers, they want you dead. They won't lose a moments sleep doing it. Their god demands it of them. The Imam's tell them every Friday that you should be dead. They won't hesitate if they get the chance. Much of our trouble could be fixed if the Imam's started getting their throats cut. They know they won't be the ones strapping bombs on, so they spew their vomit out to the robot followers of this nonsense.
Get familiar with their Koran and see what's in store for you and your family. Watch what happens in Europe and decide if that's what you want for the US.
Maybe the mentally ill person is the one that is delusional and doesn't see the truth. Calling me name won't change what's coming. If you think a "normal" person straps on bombs and blows up buildings then you won't even see it coming. Even the quiet ones beat their wives and kill their own children for their "honor". You won't last five minutes thinking they are just like everybody else.
Islam is such a peaceful religion. /sarc
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