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India rushes team to Kabul
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 7
India today strongly condemned the terror attack at its embassy in Kabul as strategic experts warned that Indian missions abroad could well become soft targets for the Pakistan’s ISI if proper lessons were not drawn from the incident in Afghanistan.

Four Indians working in the mission, Brig R.D. Mehta, defence attache V. V. Rao, counsellor and ITBP personnel Ajay Pathania and Roop Singh, were among more than 40 persons killed when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-filled car into the gates of the Indian Embassy. An Afghan staff member of the mission, Niamatullah, was also killed. This was the deadliest terror attack in Kabul since the insurgency began after the Taliban regime was removed in a US-led invasion in late 2001.

Shocked over the death of Rao, external affairs ministry officials pointed out that this was the first time that an IFS officer serving in a mission abroad had become a victim of terrorist violence.

With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh having left for Japan for the G-8 summit, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee held meetings with defence minister A.K. Antony and senior officials of the external affairs and defence ministries to review the situation arising from the dastardly attack.

A special team, led by Nalin Surie, secretary in the external affairs ministry, this afternoon left for Kabul in a special IAF aircraft to bring back the bodies of the Indians killed.

Indian officials here sought to draw a link between the Kabul incident and the serial blasts in London metro the same day three years ago. They also recalled that the serial blasts in suburban trains in Mumbai were triggered on July 11, 2006. “This clearly indicates that the terrorist groups, regardless of whether they are in Kabul, London or Mumbai, have been coordinating their activities,’’ an official said. The officials said Indian missions had been targeted by terrorist groups in the past, but this was the first time that a diplomat had been killed. Ravindra Mhatre, India’s Consul General in Birmingham, was kidnapped and later killed by his abductors after Kashmiri separatist Maqbool Butt was hanged to death in 1984.

Strategic experts said the ISI was very active in Kabul and coordinating its activities with the Taliban. To substantiate, they recalled that Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai had only last month warned that Afghan forces could strike at militants across the border, who are being aided and abetted by the ISI.

B. Raman, a former joint director of RAW, was quoted as saying that there had been a sharp increase in acts of terrorism since the new government assumed office in Islamabad in the last week of March.

The United States expressed deep shock and sadness at the suicide attack. US Ambassador to India, David Mulford, said in a statement that the US and India stood together in an effort to build democracy in Afghanistan.

Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also condemned the attack. “Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations as this menace negates the very essence of human values,” he said.

US, Pak condemn attack

New Delhi, July 7
The United States expressed deep shock and sadness at the suicide attack outside the Indian Embassy in Kabul today, which killed India's defence attache and counsellor and three other embassy staff members, and said such incidents would only strengthen the resolve of both countries to defeat terrorism around the world.

US Ambassador to India, David Mulford, said in a statement that the US and India stood together in an effort to build democracy in Afghanistan.

”The US is also deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life caused by the deliberate act of terrorism,” said Mulford. United States and India stand side-by-side in the effort to build democracy in Afghanistan. Craven acts of terrorism will only strengthen the resolve of both nations to defeat terrorism around the world, the Ambassador added.

Islamabad: Pakistan today condemned the suicide car bomb attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul saying terrorism in all its manifestations “negates the very essence of human values”. In a statement, foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi condemned the bombing at the Indian embassy in Kabul. “Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations as this menace negates the very essence of human values,” he said.

Qureshi also expressed his “profound condolences” to the bereaved families.The US and Afghanistan have been pressing Pakistan to stop support to the Taliban from its tribal areas. — Agencies