Indian embassy blast kills 17

AFGHANISTAN: A large bomb exploded outside the Indian embassy in central Kabul on Thursday, killing 17 people and wounding 76, in the latest of a series of attacks by militants on diplomatic and government buildings in the Afghan capital.

Violence has reached its worst levels of the eight-year war as Taliban insurgents have extended fighting to previously secure areas, including Kabul. Attacks in the capital had been rare until the start of last year.

Since 2008 there have been around a dozen major attacks in the city, including raids on the German embassy, the headquarters for the NATO-led force, the Information Ministry and the Justice Ministry buildings, as well as other targets near the US embassy, presidential palace and airport.

Thursday’s blast tore through a market building across the street from the heavily fortified Indian embassy compound, leaving rubble and debris strewn across the road, where the Afghan Interior Ministry is also located.

The Taliban, toppled as Afghanistan’s rulers in 2001 following a U.S.-led invasion, claimed responsibility for the bombing and said the embassy was the target.

The Taliban said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber in a sport utility vehicle.

It was the second big attack on the Indian mission in 15 months. India said that all its embassy staff were safe.

US General Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has asked for 40,000 more troops as the minimum necessary to prevail in the counterinsurgency fight, two sources told Reuters in Washington.

The sources said McChrystal gave President Barack Obama two other options: sending an even larger number of troops, and the “high-risk” road of sending no additional troops. Reuters