40 killed in Indian embassy attack in Kabul

KABUL: A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-filled car into the gates of the Indian embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul Monday, leaving at least 40 people dead including Indian Defence Attaché, officials and witnesses said.The blast destroyed about four cars outside the embassy in the heart of the city, and flesh and broken limbs were scattered at the scene, an Afghan witness told the media. The bomber hit the thick embassy gate, he said."It was a suicide car bomb in front of the Indian embassy," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said. "There are casualties but at this time I don't have a figure.""The number of deaths at this time is 40, while 141 people were wounded, half of them hospitalised," health ministry spokesman Abdullah Fahim said, adding that the figure was based on information from several hospitals.The powerful rush-hour blast sent a plume of brown smoke into the air and could be heard across the city centre. It shattered the windows of shops several hundred metres (yards) away.Police immediately sealed off the scene and kept people away.The last blast in Kabul was on June 1, when a remote-controlled bomb blew up near a minivan taking Afghan army staff to work. A woman was killed and five other people wounded.