NEW DELHI - All staffers at the Indian embassy that was attacked by a suicide bomber in the Afghan capital Thursday morning were safe, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said here Thursday.

She said the blast was “more or less similar” to the July 7, 2008 bombing, in which two Indian diplomats were killed. The stringent measures taken by the government following the attack had worked “effectively”, she said.

Three Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) troopers deployed at the outer perimeter of the embassy received shrapnel injuries following the blast that took place at 8.27 a.m. in the heavily fortified area of downtown Kabul, she disclosed.

At least seven people were killed and 67 injured in the terror attack that appeared to be directed at the embassy “because the suicide bomber came up to the outer perimeter in a car loaded with explosives”, Rao said.

Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Jayant Prasad had assured her that all the members were safe.

On July 7 last year, 44 people, including high-ranking Indian embassy officials, were killed in the suicide attack at the Indian embassy that also wounded 147 people. The attack had marked the deadliest suicide bombing since the fall of Taliban regime in 2001.

Defence Attache Brigadier R. Mehta and political counsellor V. Venkat Rao were killed, along with two Indo-Tibetan Border Police security personnel - Ajay Panthia and Roop Singh. An Afghan national employed at the Indian mission also died.

Kabul has seen a series of suicide attacks in the past two months.