Kabul blast victim cremated with full military honours

New Delhi, July 8 : Brigadier Ravi Datt Mehta, India's defence attache in Afghanistan who was killed in a terror attack in Kabul on Monday, was cremated with full military honours here on Tuesday.

A 13-gun salute was offered at the cremation ceremony of Brigadier Mehta in the presence of Chief of Army Staff, General Deepak Kapoor and the brigadier's family members.

"He'll continue to be my hero. He has made the country proud. And I'll always love him and cherish his memories. I'll remember the way he lived and not what happened to him in the end," said Udit Mehta, Brigadier Mehta's son.

Among the other three Indian killed are the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer V. Venkat Rao, who was working in the embassy as Counselor-Political, and two men of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) who were on guard duty at the embassy.

Meanwhile a day after the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital since the 2001 fall of the Taliban, Afghan commoners said on Tuesday that they were scared of getting caught up in the spiraling violence.

"All Afghans are afraid -- whenever I go across the center of the city and go towards the university, I fear an explosion will take place," said Nader Shah, a university student.

"After these explosions, people are shocked and afraid because there is no proper security here," said Hakim Mohammad Omar Adil, a local resident.

Afghanistan has accused Pakistani agents of being behind a number of attacks in recent weeks and Afghan President Hamid Karzai last month threatened to send troops across the border to attack militants there if Pakistan does not take action.

Pakistan denies the Afghan accusations and strongly condemned Monday's attack in which the bomber rammed his car into the embassy, just as two diplomatic vehicles were entering. Forty-one people lost their lives in the incident.

ANI