8 October 2009 - The United Nations today condemned “in the strongest terms” the suicide bombing at the Indian embassy in Afghanistan this morning that reportedly killed 17 people and injured another 80, with the Security Council calling on all states to cooperate in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

“The members of the Security Council reiterated their serious concern at the threats posed by the Taliban, Al-Qaida, and illegal armed groups to the local population, national security forces, international military and international assistance efforts in Afghanistan,” the Council’s President for October, Le Luong Minh of Vietnam, said in a press statement.

“The members of the Security Council reaffirmed the need to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts,” he added, underlining the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of “this reprehensible act of terrorism” to justice.

The statement noted that this was the second such attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul in the past two years and “reiterated that no terrorist act can reverse the path towards peace, democracy and reconstruction in Afghanistan, which is supported by the people and the Government of Afghanistan and the international community.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also strongly condemned what he called “the senseless attack.”

In a statement issued by his spokesperson, he offered his “deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed and his best wishes for a swift recovery to those that were injured.”

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, also issued a statement deploring the attack, the fifth such explosion in the capital since August.

“I express my sincere condolences to the families of the victims,” said Mr. Eide.