Afghan bomb blast hits Indian embassy

Twelve people were killed and 43 wounded when a huge bomb exploded near the Indian Embassy in the centre of the Afghan capital. The blast earlier today tore through a market building across the street from the building, leaving rubble and debris strewn across the road, officials said. The explosion hit at about 8.30am, as people were arriving for work. It shattered glass and rattled buildings more than a mile away. A huge brown plume of smoke could be seen as ambulances raced to the scene.India said its embassy had been the target of the attack but that all embassy staff were safe.

The explosion was a suicide car bomb, said Zemeri Bashary, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack."I believe the suicide bomb was directed against the embassy because the suicide bomber came up to the outside perimeter wall of the embassy with a car loaded with explosives." Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told Sky news. TV footage from Kabul this morning showed local residents and soldiers pulling a charred, severed leg out of a destroyed vehicle. Others carried a lifeless body on a stretcher to an ambulance. One man lay face down on another stretcher, one arm hanging downward, his leg covered in blood.

Shopkeeper Najibullah said he had just opened his shop when the explosion went off, knocking him unconscious. When he came round, he said, he couldn't see anything.“Dust was everywhere,” the 21 year-old told The Times newspaper as he helped load four of the injured people onto ambulances. “People were shouting,” said Najibullah, who like many Afghans uses only one name. “You couldn't see their faces because there was so much dust.”

The Indian embassy was also the scene of a bloody attack in July last year when a Taliban suicide car bomber killed 58 people and wounded a further 141. Today’s blast centred on a road between the Interior Ministry and the Indian embassy. The road in front of the compound has been barricaded since the attack last year. Two sport utility vehicles nearby were badly damaged; one of them had UN markings on its side.

Suicide bombers and roadside bombs have hit Kahbul many times in the last few months. The attacks usually target international military forces or government installations, but Afghan businesses and ordinary people are also often killed or injured.Last month, in the most recent attack, a suicide car bomber rammed into an Italian military convoy on a road leading to the airport. Six Italian soldiers and 10 Afghan people died.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children