On Saturday, at least 61 people were killed and more than 200 others wounded after an explosion ripped through a peaceful demonstration in western Kabul.
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In the aftermath of the horrific attack on Hazara protesters in Kabul, the big question that everybody is asking is: Will this be the turning point for the Islamic State, which has officially taken responsibility for the bloodshed, in Afghanistan? The marchers were demanding that a major regional electric power line be routed through their impoverished home province. It was claimed by the so-called Islamic State group.
The IS group has had a presence in Afghanistan for the past year, mainly in the eastern province of Nangarhar along the Pakistani border.
President Ashraf Ghani announced a day of mourning and ordered Dehmazang Square, the site of the blasts, to be renamed Martyrs Square.
Another protester who is mourning the death of a friend killed in the blasts said that they have “lost hope in the government” and will “not be able to recover from the shock”. Over 260 civilians were reportedly wounded from the attack.
Fatima Faizi, an Afghan freelance journalist, said “I saw tens of people laying down in blood around me and hundreds of people running away from the scene”.
“We had intelligence over recent days and it was shared with the demonstration organizers, we shared our concerns because we knew that terrorists wanted to bring sectarianism to our community”, presidential spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri said.
“Two fighters from Islamic State detonated explosive belts at a gathering of Shi’ites in… the city of Kabul in Afghanistan”, Amaq, an ISIL-linked website, said. He said that three city district police chiefs on duty at the square were injured and another three security personnel were killed.
Ghani released a statement condemning the blast.
It was also the worst terrorist attack in the capital since the Taliban insurgency began 15 years ago.
Earnest says the USA and the global community stand firmly with the Afghan people and their government to confront the forces that threaten the country’s security, stability and prosperity.
The attack, described by the top UN official in Afghanistan as a “war crime”, drew a shocked reaction from across the world, with condemnation and offers of support from countries including Russian Federation and the United States.
Violence had been widely feared at what was the second demonstration by Hazaras over the power line issue.
The bombing Saturday, claimed by the Islamic State group according to a statement posted on the IS-linked Aamaq online news agency, struck a group of ethnic Hazara demonstrators who had been marching through Kabul since the morning. They were chanting slogans and waving banners against such discrimination during the march, which was reported to have been peaceful.
The 500-kilovolt TUTAP power line, which would connect the Central Asian nations of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan with electricity-hungry Afghanistan and Pakistan, was originally set to pass through the central province.
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Rights groups and analysts have accused Iran of covertly recruiting and training men from the estimated 3 million Afghan refugees it hosts and sending them to Syria to fight alongside government forces.
