Kabul blast: Indian envoy says its intensity was the same as 2008 blast

Kabul, Oct.8 (ANI): India's Ambassador to Afghanistan Jayant Prasad on Thursday said this morning's blast outside the Indian embassy was of the same intensity as the blast that took place in the same area in July 2008.

Ambassador Prasad also confirmed that as of now no embassy staff had been injured and that some walls of the embassy complex had been severely damaged.

He confirmed that it was a vehicle-borne IED attack and added that a count of staff members was being undertaken. He said personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) had been hurt in the incident.

He said that the blast took place between the front road that faces the embassy and an embassy side gate. Doors and windows of the chancery building had also been blown off, he added.

The Afghan Foreign Ministry also said that no Indians had been killed in the blast.

Last year's blast claimed the lives of 41 people, including an army brigadier and a foreign service officer, and injured about 150 people.(ANI)