By IANS,
New Delhi: India has taken up with Pakistan the suicide bomb attack on the Indian embassy in Afghanistan, Defence Minister A.K. Antony indicated Saturday.
“Already we are taking it up seriously through government channels,” Antony told reporters.
He was answering a query if India was pointing the finger of suspicion at Pakistan, as ISI had been blamed for the July 2008 bomb attack on the Indian embassy.
At least 17 people were killed and over 80 injured when a Taliban suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives near the embassy in Kabul Thursday morning. Barring three Indian paramilitary personnel who were injured, all the other casualties were Afghans.
It was the second such attack in 15 months. The July 2008 strike on the Indian mission had left 56 people killed including two Indian diplomats.
The Afghan foreign ministry said Thursday that “the attack was orchestrated by the same group stationed outside Afghanistan that planned and executed the first attack on the Indian embassy in July last year”.
Afghan Ambassador to the US Said T. Jawad too has blamed the ISI for the latest attack on the Indian embassy. “Yes, we do,” he told the PBS news channel in an interview Friday when asked if he was pointing the figure at Pakistan for the suicide bombing.
“We are pointing the finger at the Pakistan intelligence agency, based on the evidence on the ground and a similar attack taking place in Afghanistan,” Jawad said.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the latest attack, but the claim is widely seen as a ploy to distract attention from the ISI’s alleged involvement in the incident.