New Delhi, July 12 (ANI): The National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan on Saturday said for the first time that India believes Pakistan is behind the July 7 blast at the Indian embassy in Kabul.

The NSA further added that India has a "fair amount" of intelligence inputs about Pakistan's involvement in the Monday's suicide attack on its Embassy in Kabul.

"We not only suspect but we have a fair amount of intelligence (on the involvement of Pakistan)," Narayanan told television channels when asked whether India suspects Pakistan's involvement in the attack.

"The ISI needs to be destroyed. We made this point, whenever we have had a chance, to interlocutors across the world... there might have been some tactical restraint for some time, obviously that restraint is no longer present," he said.

Narayanan further said, "I think that the people of this country need to know the facts. The Afghan government has categorically stated it, and we are aware of it. I think we need to pay back those who are responsible in the same coin."

He also added, "Our concept was that talk-talk is better than fight-fight. Like in other comprehensive dialogue mechanism that we have in place at several levels, the anti-terror mechanism was a part of this larger picture. In course of time the hope was that both the sides would share whatever information they had and come out with a holistic idea of what's going on. It hasn't worked so far."

However, he concluded by saying that "We haven't arrived at a decision that we should go for fight-fight. Let talks continue for the moment."

IARC condemns suicide bombing on Indian Embassy in Kabul

Washington, D.C., July 12 (ANI): The Indian American Republican Council (IARC) on Saturday strongly condemned the July 7 suicide bombing on the Indian Embassy in Kabul.

Dino Teppara, spokesman for the IARC, said in a statement, "This terrorist attack in Afghanistan is by ruthless killers."

"These killers often use madrassas in Pakistan not to provide an education in theology, but rather to teach violence and hatred toward innocent civilians. Combating this murderous ideology will require solidarity between allies like the US, India and Afghanistan, said Teppara and added, "We want to reassure the people of Afghanistan and India that America stands with them in combating this violent scourge."

The IARC pointed out that India has provided nearly 750 million dollars in aid, for the reconstruction works in Afghanistan, and thousands of Indian engineers and workers have assisted in building roads and other infrastructure.

The IARC also added, "Despite Monday's cowardly attacks, freedom-loving people in democratic nations around the world remain committed to re-building Afghanistan and defeating those who show such disregard for human life."

"Our condolences go out to the victims, their families, and to the people of India and Afghanistan," it further added.

Over 50 persons were killed and more than 141 people were injured, including civilians and security forces in the blast.

Among the dead, four were identified as Indians, which included Brigadier R. Mehta and Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer (Counsellor-Political) V. Venkat Rao.

A suicide bomber had rammed a car full of explosives into the gates of the Indian embassy in the Afghan capital.

About 3,000 Indians are working on various reconstruction and developmental projects in Afghanistan and they have often been subjected to attacks by the terrorist group, Taliban.
(ANI)