Blast Kills 17 Outside Indian Embassy in Kabul

At least 17 people were killed and dozens injured when a powerful car bomb exploded in central Kabul today, rattling buildings up to a mile away. The bomb went off across the road from the Afghan Interior Ministry and the Indian embassy, which is believed to have been the target. The embassy building sustained some damage but no staff members were injured, officials told Reuters.

The blast, believed to have been the work of a suicide attacker, destroyed vehicles and a market building. "It was rush hour. There were lots of workers cleaning the street—most of them have been killed," a witness told the BBC. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, and the Afghan government charged that it was "was planned and implemented from outside of Afghan borders," in Pakistan, also blamed for an attack on the Indian embassy last year that killed dozens of people, including senior diplomats.
(More Kabul stories.)