Speaking in Malaysia, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said his country has no interest in destabilizing Afghanistan when both countries are fighting the common enemy of Islamic terrorism.

A suicide car bomb ripped through the gates of the Indian Embassy on Monday, killing 41 people and wounding nearly 150 others.

Afghanistan quickly blamed India's archrival Pakistan. The blast was the deadliest in Kabul since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

Asked to comment on Afghanistan's view, Gilani said: "Why should Pakistan destabilize Afghanistan? It is in our interest to have a stable Afghanistan."

"We want stability in the region. We ourselves are a victim of terrorism and extremism," said Gilani on the sidelines of a summit of eight developing Islamic nations. He did not elaborate.

On Monday, Pakistan Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood condemned the attack. But Gilani's comment was the first high-level denial of involvement by the government.

Afghanistan often accuses Pakistani intelligence of supporting the Taliban insurgency, a charge denied by Islamabad.

The bodies of the four Indians killed in the attack were flown back home late Monday, aboard an Indian military plane, said Gen. Ahmad Zia Aftali, the head of Kabul's main military hospital.

Senior Afghan government officials, including Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, and President Hamid Karzai's national security advisor Zalmay Rasoul were at the airport, Aftali said.

Karzai condemned the bombing Monday and said it was carried out by militants trying to rupture the Afghan-Indian friendship. He told the Indian prime minister during a phone conversation that Afghanistan would do all it could do identify the attackers.

The Afghan Interior Ministry hinted that the attack was carried out with help from Pakistan's intelligence service, saying the blast happened "in coordination and consultation with some of the active intelligence circles in the region."

Suspicion of Pakistan's involvement run deep in the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan because of historical reasons - Pakistani intelligence helped create the Taliban militia, many of whose leaders and recruits studied at religious schools in Pakistan.

Despite international condemnation of the Taliban regime's fundamentalist rule in Afghanistan from 1996-2001, Pakistan was one of the few countries that gave it diplomatic recognition, underscoring the importance to Pakistan of having a strong ally in power in its neighbor.

Pakistan formally abandoned its support for the Taliban after Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Still, Taliban leaders are suspected of getting continued shelter and support in Pakistan, and maintaining links with the Pakistani intelligence agency.

Pakistan on the other hand views with suspicion India's involvement in post-Taliban Afghanistan, including the millions of dollars donated for reconstruction and the thousands of Indian engineers and laborers helping to build roads and other infrastructure.

Pakistanis are wary of Indian consulates established in the outlying cities of Kandahar, Jalalabad, Herat, and Mazar-i-Sharif.

But Indian officials say they are there to support reconstruction.

Militants have frequently attacked Indian offices and projects around Afghanistan.