NEW DELHI - Showing grit even in the face of a terror attack, two commandos of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) refused to abandon their posts outside the Indian embassy in Kabul despite their injuries in the suicide bombing that killed at least 12 people Thursday morning.

Havaldar Ravinder Singh and Constable Kulwant Singh were manning their post along the embassy wall in Kabul when the blast took place. Though the blast took place at some distance from the embassy, the impact was so massive that one of them was thrown back some distance and suffered back injuries. The other suffered splinter injuries on his neck from the shattered glass of the embassy windows,” a senior ITBP official told IANS here.

The explosion occurred at 8.27 a.m. on the heavily fortified road in downtown Kabul where the Indian embassy and the Afghan interior ministry are located.

According to the high ranked officer, Ravinder and Kulwant, who were trained in anti-terrorist operations, were given primary first aid at the blast site. Thereafter, the two troopers of the central paramilitary force just stayed on.

Seeing the gravity of the situation, they themselves refused to leave the post, the officer added.

According to ITBP officers here, the best troopers drawn from all their battalions and trained in anti-terrorism operations have been deployed at the Indian embassy in Kabul.

We have sole charge and provide full security from escorting to manning posts. Our men are deployed inside of the embassy and also along its walls. Round-the-clock security is provided at the embassy, said an officer.

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

On July 7 last year, 44 people, including two 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.