India condemns Kabul blast, two Indians injured

NEW DELHI - India Tuesday strongly condemned the blast in the diplomatic area in Kabul that killed at least four civilians. Three residences of Indian embassy personnel were damaged and two Indians working with an internet company were also injured.

“We unequivocally condemn this cowardly act. Our hearts go out to the victims,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash told reporters here.

The spokesperson said three residences of Indian embassy personnel suffered minor damages in the incident. Besides, two Indian nationals working with IO Global, an internet services provider, have been injured.

They are minor damages and are likely to be discharged soon, Prakash said.

At least four civilians were killed by a suicide car bomb outside the Heetal Hotel in the Wazir Akbar Khan district, Kabul’s main diplomatic area.

The suicide explosion badly damaged the home of former Afghan vice president Ahmad Zia Massoud, brother of late anti-Soviet Afghan leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. The nearby houses in the diplomatic district, which is home to government officials, international organisations and diplomatic residences, also suffered damages, with window panes of many houses blown away.

It is not clear whether the Indian embassy was the target of the suicide bomber.

Three months ago, the Indian embassy in Kabul was targeted by militants in an attack that left three Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) troopers injured.

Last year, a suicide bomber targeted the Indian embassy in the Afghan capital July 7, killing two Indian diplomats in the first such attack on an Indian mission abroad. India had blamed the Taliban with linkages to Pakistan-based militants for that attack, a charge denied by Islamabad.