US intelligence officials have concluded that elements of Pakistan’s military intelligence service provided logistical support to militants who staged last month’s deadly car bombing at the Indian Embassy in Kabul, US officials familiar with the evidence said Thursday.

The finding, based partly on unspecified communication intercepts, has dramatically heightened US concerns about long-standing ties between Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) and Taliban-allied groups that are battling US forces in Afghanistan, according to two US government officials briefed on the matter.

The July 8 bombing at the Kabul embassy has been linked to fighters loyal to Jalaluddin Haqqani, an ethnic Pashtun militant who has led pro-Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and is linked to numerous suicide bombings in the region. The bombing killed more than 40 people in one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in Afghanistan in recent months.

“There continues to be evidence of Taliban and Haqqani network involvement in the Indian embassy bombing as well as the attempted assassination of (Afghanistan President Hamid) Karzai,” said a senior US official briefed on the reports. He said there was “significant” evidence suggesting that individual ISI members provided logistical support to the embassy bombers. He declined to elaborate further.

CIA officials raised the issue of possible ISI involvement during a meeting last month between the newly-elected Pakistani government and a delegation led by Steven Kappes, the agency’s director of clandestine operations. The visit was first reported by the New York Times.

The official stressed that the ISI has generally worked closely with US intelligence in battling al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in the rugged tribal region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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