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.
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I wouldn’t be surprised if some group from Pakistan was responsible for this. Whether it be an arm of the military or Intel or just one of the radical groups that say battle with the Indians on the Kashmir border.
“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?”
Not all of them. Just enough to make them scared shitless of us to the point they’ll do whatever we tell them to.
Whyever not? Just out of curiosity, being that I dont know what the situation is...
Aren’t the Baluchis also causing trouble for Iran? I have heard that Iran may actually be being helpful for us in some subtle ways. If the Baluchis are Sunni (loving al Qaeda and Bin Laden) helping us might make sense for at least some factions of Shia Iran.
With at least 140 injured, officials have stated that they expect the death toll to rise. Also it is hard to do body counts when people are being rushed off to hospitals, and when as the article stated body parts are scattered about.
“The Taliban denied being behind the attack.”
This might actually be true. As Karzai intimated, Pakistan would have an interest in damaging relations between India and Pakistan. Also as has been reported elsewhere, there seem to be subversive elements in the Pakistan intelligence services and perhaps elsewhere.
Just kidding, vodkaman.
Check out www.orbat.com for a comprehensive take on the situation.
-—Pakistan 324 Military Intelligence Battalion with Pakistan XI Corps (Peshawar) is behind the suicide car-bomb attack against the Indian Embassy
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