KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - A TALIBAN suicide car bomb hit the Indian Embassy in Kabul on Monday, killing 41 people and wounding 141, in an attack Afghan authorities said was coordinated with foreign agents in the region, a likely reference to Pakistan.

Afghanistan has accused Pakistani agents of being behind a number of attacks in recent weeks and Afghan President Hamid Karzai last month threatened to send troops across the border to attack militants there if Pakistan does not take action.

The bomber rammed his car into the embassy just as two diplomatic vehicles were entering the compound.

'I saw wounded and dead people everywhere on the road,' said Mr Danish Karokhil, the head of the independent Pajhwok news agency, whose offices are close by.

'The target was the diplomatic vehicles. They were trying to get inside the embassy when the suicide car bomber attacked them,' he said.

India's military attache was killed, the Indian Defence Ministry said. Two vehicles were destroyed, the embassy gates blown off and buildings inside the compound were badly damaged by the force of the blast, an Indian diplomat said.

'The Interior Ministry believes this attack was carried out in coordination and consultation with an active intelligence service in the region,' the Afghan Interior Ministry said.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Islamist militia have vowed to step up their campaign of suicide bombings this year, demonstrating that despite the increase in foreign troops in Afghanistan and more trained Afghan forces on patrol, the militants are far from defeated.

The Health Ministry said 28 people were killed and 141 wounded, but a senior police official said the death toll was 41.

'More than 10 people are in a very critical condition. At least one woman and one baby were killed. At least three babies were wounded,' said Health Ministry spokesman Abdullah Fahim.

India Condemns India has close relations with the Afghan government and is funding a number of large infrastructure projects, but had no diplomatic ties to the Taliban when they ruled the country which was backed its rival Pakistan.

'The government of India strongly condemns this cowardly terrorist attack on its diplomatic mission in Afghanistan. Such acts of terror will not deter us from fulfilling our commitments to the government and people of Afghanistan,' the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Pakistan officially dropped support for the Taliban after intense US pressure in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, ordered by Al- Qaeda leaders hosted by the Taliban.

Pakistan denies Afghan accusations it is still secretly backing the Taliban and strongly condemned Monday's attack.

Security guards, a line of people waiting for visas and those shopping at a nearby market were likely the main victims.

Two women were among five dead at Kabul's Emergency Hospital. One of the dead women had a baby with her at the time of the blast, the woman's sister said. The baby was now missing.

Grey smoke and dust poured from the scene of the blast.

Police cordoned off the area as ambulance crews raced the wounded to hospital. Several US soldiers were also at the scene.

US troops later shot dead the driver of another car and wounded a passenger, witnesses said. -- REUTERS