Monday, July 7, 2008
Two Indonesian Diplomats Injured in Kabul Suicide Bomb Attack
Source: Antara News

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Two Indonesian diplomats were injured in a bomb suicide attack outside the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

"The two Indonesian diplomats are Ahimsa Sukartono, head of representatives operational affairs, and Abdul Mufti, second secretary of the Indonesian embassy. They suffered minor injuries after they were hit by pieces of glass from smashed windows," spokesman of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, Teuku Faizasyah said here on Monday.

Faizasyah said the Indonesian diplomats were hurt because the Indonesian embassy was located side-by-side with the Indian embassy.

"Besides the two Indonesian diplomats, five Afghan police security officers who guarded the Indonesian embassy were killed," he said.

The ministry spokesman said the two Indonesian diplomats had been given medical treatment at the Indonesian embassy’s guest house and their conditions were already improving.

"They suffered more in psychological terms from shock while their physical injuries are only minor ones," he said.

AFP reported on Monday that a suicide car bomber rammed the vehicle against an Indian embassy car in Kabul on Monday, killing 41 people, including two Indian diplomats in the Afghan capital’s deadliest attack since the 2001 fall of the Taliban.

The blast in the heart of the city scattered human flesh and severed limbs in front of the embassy compound, tearing down an outside security office and part of a wall. Charred and bloodied bodies littered a road outside.

"The toll of casualties we have so far is 41 martyred and 139 wounded. Among those killed are six policemen," Afghan interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP.

Many of the dead were Afghans collecting Indian visas.

The Indian embassy’s military attaché and a political counselor were killed along with two Indian guards. The body of one of the diplomats was flung onto the roof of the embassy and only found hours later, officials said.

Indian ambassador Jayan Prasad, who was not hurt in the explosion heard across the city center, told AFP the suicide attacker rammed the diplomats` vehicle as it was entering through the gates of the embassy compound.

"The embassy has been blown up badly especially the outer structures," another embassy official said on condition of anonymity. "We are walking on rubble."