The Afghan government today reiterated its veiled accusation that Pakistan orchestrated the Indian embassy bombing in Kabul yesterday that killed 41 people, including senior diplomatic staff.

A spokesman for Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, said officials had "sufficient evidence" to indicate that Pakistan's intelligence agency was behind the atrocity.

"[The] sophistication of this attack and the kind of material that was used, the specific targeting, everything has the hallmarks of a particular agency that has conducted similar attacks inside Afghanistan," Humayun Hamidzada said.

Hamidzada did not name Pakistan's intelligence agency but told reporters that the identity of the agency was "pretty obvious".

Yesterday's bombing tore open the front gates of the Indian embassy, killing 41 people and wounding some 150.

The Afghan interior ministry immediately accused a "regional intelligence service" of coordinating the attack - an unmistakable reference to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence whose agents have been blamed before for being behind terrorist incidents in Afghanistan.

Gareth Price, a Pakistan analyst at the Chatham House think-tank, told guardian.co.uk that a series of incidents in recent months had "ratcheted up the tension" between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

They included the breakdown of peace deals between the Pakistani government and tribal leaders in areas bordering Afghanistan. Also, the Afghan military and US-led coalition have accused Pakistan of failing to tackle Taliban strike teams, which are believed to take refuge in Pakistan.



The ability of yesterday's attackers to gain access to the front of the Indian embassy indicated a high level of support, Price said.

"[Regular] Taliban suicide bombers drive round until they happen to stop next to a foreign vehicle and then detonate their explosives. But to get to most embassies you have to pass through a series of checkpoints," he said.

The Pakistani armed services, or sometimes rogue elements within them, were often accused of helping the Taliban, but hard evidence was scarce, Price added.

A correspondent writing in the Times of India recalled that the Indian embassy in Kabul was a regular target during Taliban rule.

"So specific was the targeting of the Indian embassy that the officials used to leave their cars and other vehicles parked inside the Indonesian embassy, which is next to the Indian embassy, to keep them safe from the Taliban rockets," Dhananjay Mahapatra said.
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Among the blast's victims were four Indians working in the embassy, including the military attache and a diplomat.

Pakistan's prime minister today denied his country's intelligence service was behind the attack. Speaking in Malaysia, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said Pakistan had no interest in destabilising Afghanistan when both countries were fighting terrorism.

"We want stability in the region. We ourselves are a victim of terrorism and extremism," said Gilani on the sidelines of a summit of eight developing Islamic nations.

A senior official at the Inter-Services Intelligence said Afghanistan's allegations were part of a smear campaign against Pakistan security agencies.

"If they have any evidence to back up what they are claiming they should share it with Pakistan," the official said.

Yesterday's blast was the deadliest in Kabul since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.