By Manish Chand. Delhi, India, 10:01 PM IST

Afghanistan has shared its initial findings with India that point to the involvement of 'a foreign intelligence agency' in the suicide bombing at the Indian mission that killed 54 people, the Indian ambassador said Wednesday.

'President Hamid Karzai has made a statement saying those opposed to India-Afghan friendship are behind the attack. The Afghan interior ministry has made a statement saying a foreign intelligence agency is involved. They have shared their findings with us bilaterally,' ambassador Jayant Prasad told IANS by telephone from Kabul.

He declined to speculate on the identity of the perpetrators of the July 7 attack on the Indian embassy in which two Indian diplomats - the defence attache and the press counsellor - and two Indian security personnel and an Afghan employee of the mission were among those killed.

It was the worst suicide attack in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001. It was also the bloodiest attack on any Indian mission anywhere.

According to analysts, the Afghan government was hinting at the involvement of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency in the attack. Kabul has accused Islamabad in the past of fomenting instability in Afghanistan.

'The enemies of the development of Afghanistan are behind this attack,' Prasad said. 'India is in the heart of every Afghan. We will not be deterred from the development work we are doing in this country,' he added.

'Investigations are on and we will know soon,' said the envoy, adding the death toll in the attack had climbed to 54. The dead included 17 students.

'These probes are difficult. Let's not forget it was a suicide attack. Such investigations take time, but we will know soon,' he said when asked about the status of the probe into the attack.

Underlining India's resolve to carry on with its reconstruction projects in the violence-torn country, Prasad said: 'This is clear from the way the Indian mission in Kabul had become fully functional barely two days after the attack.'

'The Indian mission will start issuing visas from Saturday,' Prasad maintained.

'The design is very clear. The threat to our development work emanates from those who are opposed to the development of Afghanistan,' he said. India has pledged $850 million for various reconstruction projects in Afghanistan.

The projects range from roads and bridges to those in the power and infrastructure sectors on which over 2,000 Indians are engaged.

Giving a vivid account of what happened Monday morning when a car packed with explosives exploded outside the Indian embassy, Prasad recalled his 'shock and horror' at seeing shattered glass and mangled bodies strewn all round the embassy.

'But by 2 p.m. Monday afternoon, the Indian embassy started operating from the courtyard,' Prasad said while lauding the mission staff for showing courage under pressure and restoring the place in virtually no time at all.

'By Tuesday, all communication links was fully restored. Our WiFi system also became fully functional,' he said.

'The embassy has become fully functional on Wednesday. But as Thursday and Friday are holidays in Kabul, we will start issuing visas again on Saturday,' the Indian envoy said.

Prasad indicated that the damage to the embassy would have been much greater had it not taken extra security measures like installing blast-proof barriers at the entrance to the building over the last two weeks.

'That is why most of the damage was outside the embassy. Inside the embassy, no lives were lost,' he pointed out.

By Manish Chand (Staff Writer, © IANS)