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Indian embassy takes a hit in Kabul bombing

A large bomb exploded near the Indian embassy in the centre of Afghanistan capital Kabul on Thursday, killing seven people and wounding 45, police sources said.

The blast tore through a market building across the street from the heavily fortified embassy compound, leaving rubble and debris strewn across the road, where the Afghan Interior Ministry is also located.

Ambulances and other emergency vehicles rushed to the blast site.

India's Ambassador to Afghanistan Jayant Prasad said Thursday's blast outside the Indian embassy was of the same intensity as the blast that took place in the same area in July 2008.

Ambassador Prasad also confirmed that as of now no embassy staff had been injured. However, some walls of the embassy complex had been severely damaged, he added.

He confirmed that it was a vehicle-borne IED attack and added that a count of staff members was being undertaken.

He said personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) had been hurt in the incident.

The Ambassador said the blast took place between the front road that faces the embassy and an embassy side gate. Doors and windows of the chancery building had also been blown off, he added.

Last year's blast claimed the lives of 41 people, including an Indian Army brigadier and a Foreign Service officer, and injured about 150 people.