WASHINGTON, Aug 4 — The United States yesterday condemned in the “strongest terms” a suicide attack near an Indian mission in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad that killed nine civilians.
“Despite today’s attack, we remain committed to working with our Afghan, Indian, and other international partners to build a secure and prosperous Afghanistan free from senseless violence,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki added in a statement.
The nine victims of the suicide bombing included seven children who were in a nearby mosque.
A spokesman for the Taliban militant group denied responsibility for the blast outside the Indian mission which left the mosque, private houses, tailors and other shops in ruins.
Syed Akbaruddin, a spokesman for the Indian foreign ministry in New Delhi, said that no officials were injured in the attack—the first major strike in Afghanistan during the holy month of Ramadan that started on July 10.
India has been a key supporter of Kabul’s post-Taliban government, spending more than $2 billion in aid, and analysts have often cited the threat of a “proxy war” in Afghanistan between India and its arch-rival Pakistan.
India has previously been targeted in the war-torn country.
In 2008, a car bomb at the Indian embassy in Kabul killed 60 people and the embassy was again hit by a suicide strike in 2009. In 2010, two guesthouses in Kabul used by Indians were attacked. – AFP
