New Delhi, October 09: Taking a serious view of the incident, India has called for an international terror treaty to tackle the growing menace even as Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao visits Afghanistan on Friday. She will take stock of the situation in the aftermath of the suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, in which 17 people were killed.
Expressing concern over the terror attack on Indian embassy in Kabul, India’s envoy to the United Nations Hardeep Singh Puri has asked the world leaders to negotiate an international treaty to tackle terrorism expeditiously.
“Our Embassy in Kabul was again subjected to yet another terrorist attack, which has resulted in injury of Indian
security personnel as well as death of large number of Afghan civilians,” Puri told the committee of the General Assembly
that handles a range of social, humanitarian affairs and human rights issues.
“While it is important for the international community to condemn terrorism and these attacks in an unequivocal manner,
it is also critical that we strengthen the legal framework in the fight against terrorism,” he noted.
Earlier, the UN Chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the attacks at the Indian embassy. The Security Council also deplored the “reprehensible” attack demanding that those responsible be brought to justice.
On its website, the Taliban write that one of their “martyrs” carried out suicide car bomb attack in a heavily
fortified diplomatic area and added that the Indian embassy “was the main target”.
At least 17 people were killed and 76 injured, some seriously, when a Taliban suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives near the Indian embassy in Kabul Thursday morning. This was the second such terror attack since July 2008.
Barring three Indian paramilitary personnel who were injured, all the other casualties in Thursday’s attack were Afghans. The dead included two police officers and 15 civilian visa seekers.
The deafening 8.27 am blast extensively damaged the embassy’s fortified outer wall and blew off windows and doors of the building. The injured Indians were from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) deployed outside the mission.
The explosion, the fifth suicide strike in Kabul in two months, was heard across a large area. Scores of people outside the embassy fell bleeding and others ran for cover crying for help. It left a large crater in the ground outside the embassy.
–Agencies