India’s embassy in Afghanistan began issuing visas again yesterday, nearly a week after a massive bombing at its front gate that killed 58 people, the ambassador said.
The reopening of the consular section to the public was the first step toward restoring normalcy at the embassy, Indian Ambassador Jayant Prasad said.
The embassy’s consular section was destroyed in last Monday’s suicide blast, which also wounded around 150 people, and Prasad said it was operating out of a new location.
Among the blast’s victims were four Indians working in the embassy, including the military attache and a diplomat, although most were Afghans.
“We are doing our best to restore normal functions in the embassy and public dealings is an important element,” Prasad said.
Afghan officials have blamed Pakistan’s intelligence service for the blast, a charge Pakistan officials have denied. India and Pakistan are longtime rivals.
Meanwhile, a suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up next to a police patrol in southern Afghanistan yesterday, killing 24 people, including 19 civilians, a provincial police chief said.
The attack in the southern province of Uruzgan also killed five police officers and wounded more than 30 others, Juma Gul Himat said.
The bomber struck the police patrol at a busy intersection of Deh Rawood District, Himat said. Most of those killed and wounded were shopkeepers and young boys selling cigarettes and other goods in the street.
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