Worst attack on Kabul since 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7492601.stm
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A suicide bomber has rammed a car full of explosives into the gates of the Indian embassy in the Afghan capital, killing 41 people and injuring 141.
Five embassy personnel were killed - India's defence attache, a senior diplomat and two security guards - as well as an Afghan man.
Five Afghans died at Indonesia's embassy nearby.
No-one has admitted being behind the attack, the deadliest in Kabul since the overthrow of the Taleban in 2001.
Afghanistan has seen a sharp increase in violence, particularly in the south and east - and Taleban militants recently vowed to step up their attacks in the capital.
But the latest blast - in what was supposed to be a secure area of Kabul - will greatly concern Afghan government officials, says the BBC's Martin Patience in Kabul.
Eyewitness: Kabul bombing
In pictures: Afghan bomb attack
India: Afghanistan's influential ally
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the attackers wanted to rupture good relations between Afghanistan and India, while the Afghan interior ministry said it believed the attack was carried out "in co-ordination and consultation with an active intelligence service in the region".
It did not specify which intelligence service it suspected of involvement. But in the past, Afghanistan has accused Pakistani agents of being behind a number of attacks on its soil.
In a statement, Pakistan's foreign minister said his country "condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations".
India also condemned the "cowardly terrorists' attack", but vowed it would not be deterred from fulfilling its commitment to the government and people of Afghanistan.
India has close ties with Afghanistan and is involved in aid and reconstruction work, including the building of Afghanistan's new parliament.
The US condemned the "needless act of violence", as did the European Union, which described it as a "terrorist attack targeting innocent civilians".
The United Nations envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, said that "in no culture, no country, and no religion is there any excuse or justification for such acts".
'Very afraid'
The bomb exploded as people were queuing for visas at the embassy.
"We were standing in a line to get visas, the police told us to stand on one side, the women were in another line, then suddenly I heard a huge bang and I sat down. I was very afraid," Khan Zaman said.
RECENT ATTACKS IN KABUL
April 2008: Gun attack on parade attended by President Karzai
March 2008: Six people die in car bomb attack on coalition convoy
Jan 2008: Six people killed in Taleban attack on Serena hotel
Dec 2007: At least 13 people killed in a suicide car bombing
Sept 2007: Suicide bomb attack on bus kills 30 Afghan soldiers
June 2007: Bomb attack on Afghan police bus kills up to 35 people
Ali Hassan Fahimi said shrapnel had landed in his office, which is close to the site of the blast.
"It was so strong... and our staff were shocked," he said.
A spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry, Gen Zaher Azimi, told the BBC the attack was "the deadliest since the fall of Taleban" in Kabul.
Another Afghan government spokesman, Zamari Bashari, told the BBC he thought the embassy had been attacked because of India's involvement in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
He said that the terrorist enemies of Afghanistan wanted such work to stop.
Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta visited the Indian embassy shortly after the attack, his spokesman said.
"India and Afghanistan have a deep relationship between each other. Such attacks of the enemy will not harm our relations," Mr Spanta told the personnel at the embassy, the spokesman said.
Re: Worst attack on Kabul since 2001
A couple of interesting perspectives:
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Taliban denial
The Taliban has carried out a wave of suicide attacks across the country in the past seven years, but said it did not carry out the embassy attack.
Zabihullah Mujahed, a group spokesman, told the AFP news agency that the Taliban would have been proud to claim responsibility for the attack but they had not been involved.
"We wish we had carried out this attack ... since India has been the enemy of the Islamic emirate," he said.
"They send secret military experts to Afghanistan and they train (the) Afghan army.
"Had we carried out the attack, we would have claimed responsibility for it with pride since we have good reasons for it."
Mujahed said America, China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and other countries around "are rivals in Afghanistan and this attack may be the result of this rivalry".
By the way, Zabihullah Mujahed is next to get blown up. Taliban spokesmen always get blown up after appearing on AlJaz. :skull:
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Possible perpetrators
Retired Major-General Dipankar Banerjee, director of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, told Al Jazeera that the Taliban may not be responsible for the attack.
"This terrorist attack is the work of those that are highly specialised ... but I am not entirely sure if the blame can be pointed towards the Taliban because the majority of those killed were Afghan civilians," he said.
"Also, India has no troops stationed in the country, but over 3,000 personnel involved in development projects.
"Perhaps this is the work of those that are not happy between this partnership between India and Afghanistan."
Re: Worst attack on Kabul since 2001
Zabihullah Mujahed, a group spokesman, told the AFP news agency that the Taliban would have been proud to claim responsibility for the attack but they had not been involved.
"We wish we had carried out this attack ... since India has been the enemy of the Islamic emirate," he said.
"They send secret military experts to Afghanistan and they train (the) Afghan army.
"Had we carried out the attack, we would have claimed responsibility for it with pride since we have good reasons for it."
Mujahed said America, China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and other countries around "are rivals in Afghanistan and this attack may be the result of this rivalry".
Somebody teach them to rap
