Oct 8 Taliban suicide attack kills 17 in Afghan capital

Taliban suicide attack kills 17 in Afghan capital
AP

* * Bomb outside India's Kabul embassy Play Video Afghanistan Video:Bomb outside India's Kabul embassy Reuters

By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer Rahim Faiez, Associated Press Writer – 30 mins ago

KABUL – A suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle outside the Indian Embassy in the busy center of Afghanistan's capital on Thursday, killing 17 people and wounding nearly 80 in the second major attack in the city in less than a month.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the 8:30 a.m. assault and said the embassy was the target.

In New Delhi, India's Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said that driver of the sport utility vehicle "came up to the outer perimeter wall of the embassy in a car loaded with explosives." Three Indian paramilitary soldiers on guard at the embassy's watchtower were wounded by shrapnel, Rao said.

The Interior Ministry said 15 civilians and two Afghan police officers were killed. At least 76 people were wounded, the ministry said.

It was the deadliest attack in Kabul since Sept. 17, when a suicide bomber killed 16 people, including six Italian soldiers and 10 Afghan civilians, on a road in the center of the capital.

President Hamid Karzai, the U.S. Embassy and the United Nations mission all condemned the blast.