Indian team heads to Kabul to assess situation

An Indian delegation headed by a senior diplomat is leaving for Kabul to assess the "emergency situation" following the terror attack on the Indian embassy.

An Indian delegation headed by a senior diplomat is leaving for Kabul to assess the "emergency situation" following the terror attack on the Indian embassy on Monday in which four Indians are amongst the at least 44 killed.

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The delegation, which would be flying out "immediately", is headed by Nalin Surie, secretary (west), Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee said in New Delhi while condemning the "dastardly attack" on the Indian mission in the Afghanistan capital.

The dead in the attack include Defence Attache Brigadier RD Mehta and Press Counsellor V Venkat Rao. The others Ajay Panthia and Roop Singh are from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which protects the Indian mission. An Afghan employee of the embassy, Niyamatullah, has also been killed.

"It is with great regret and a heavy heart that I announce that in the terrorist attack on our mission in Kabul we have lost five of our personnel," the minister said.

He said the government offered its "deepest condolences to the families and to the families of the others who were killed in the dastardly attack".