By IANS,
Kabul : No Indians had been killed in the suicide blast outside the Indian embassy here Thursday morning but some had been injured, Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Jayant Prasad said.
He described the explosion as being “of the same intensity” as the July 7, 2008 bombing in which 44 people, including two Indian diplomats, had been killed.
“The explosion that I heard at my residence was exactly the same that I heard at my home (in July 2008),” Prasad told CNN-IBN news channel.
At least three people were killed in the explosion that rocked downtown Kabul. The explosion took place in a heavily fortified area.
“No Indian has been severely injured or killed in the attack,” Prasad said, adding that it was an “IED attack”.
There was damage to the “watch tower and some of the security personnel on the outer perimeter” had been hurt, but the injuries were not serious.
Prasad said that there was damage to chancery premises “with doors and windows blown off” and added that the embassy wall took the impact of the blast.
On July 7 last year, 44 people, including high-ranking Indian embassy officials, were killed in the suicide attack at the Indian embassy that also wounded 147 people. The attack had marked the deadliest suicide bombing since the fall of Taliban regime in 2001.
Defence Attache Brigadier R. Mehta and political counselor V. Venkat Rao were killed, along with two Indo-Tibetan Border Police security personnel – Ajay Panthia and Roop Singh. An Afghan national employed at the Indian mission also died.