Bomb in front of Indonesian Embassy in Kabul

I am not in Kabul at this moment, but was very much shocked to read a friend’s SMS:
Bomb outside of Indian and Indonesian embassies in Kabul. Casualties. All Indonesian friends are safe. Building damaged.

Later, I read more on the Internet. The bomb happened at 8:25 a.m., the busy hour when dozens of visa applicants queueing in front of the Indian embassy. The Indonesian embassy was not the target, but unluckily it was located right next to the Indian embassy. The location is on sensitive area of Ministry of Interior street, heavily guarded everyday during office hours as a deadly bomb blast in 2006 here. On the same street is also the Pajhwok Afghan News Office, where I used to live in Kabul.

Here is a photo of the scene after the bomb blast, taken by photographer colleague of Pajhwok, Ahmadullah Salemi

The deadly bomb blast

At the right side, far behind, the white building is the Indonesian embassy. Despite of the worsening security in Kabul, the embassy still puts its office right beside the main street. The result of this blast, the building is damaged and some diplomats are wounded. Body pieces even reached the tennis lawn, about 50 meters behind the gate.

Here is a news flash from AP:
Suicide bomb kills 7 in Kabul, officials say
Explosion hits during rush hour near Indian Embassy in Afghan capital
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updated 1:16 a.m. ET July 7, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan – A suicide bomber killed seven people Monday in an attack in the center of the Afghan capital, officials said.

The bomb went off in a car during Monday morning rush hour on a busy street in Kabul near the Indian Embassy, which sits across the street from Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry.

Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the spokesman for the Defense Ministry, said five people were killed at the scene.
Sayed Qabir, the chief of a Kabul hospital, said his staff had treated eight people wounded in the blast, but two had died.

While Afghanistan has seen increasing violence in recent months, the capital has been largely spared from bomb attacks that Taliban militants use in their fight against Afghan and international troops.