New Delhi, July 7th, 2008 (WAM) -- Two Indian diplomats and two security personnel were among the 44 persons killed in the terror attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul this morning, it was stated here.
The Ministry of External Affairs condemned the attack and identified the diplomats as V Venkat Rao, a career Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer and Brigadier R D Mehta, Defence Attache. Rao, 44, is the second career foreign service officer to have fallen ever to the terrorists, the first being Ravindra Mhatre, who was kidnapped and shot to death in 1984 by Kashmiri militants in Birmingham where he was Indias Deputy High Commissioner. The two security personnel belonged to the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), assigned to guard the Embassy, But the other victims were mostly Afghans who had come early to seek visas to visit India. Another 100 persons, women and children included, were injured, some seriously, when the suicide bomber rammed his explosives-filled car into the embassy vehicles. The unidentified car bomber was also believed to have died. The Embassy building, located opposite the Ministry of Interior, was badly damaged and the staff was moved to safe locations. Hundreds of Afghan troops and policemen came to help and cordoned the area. The Afghan government said that the attack was carried out by 'terrorists in cooperation with some secret agencies in the region.' There were no claims of identity yet though. Both the countries said that the attack would not affect their friendly ties, In Islamabad, Pakistan also issued a statement condemning the attack. WAM GCopyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2008.
