Earnest says the USA and the worldwide community stand firmly with the Afghan people and their government to confront the forces that threaten the country’s security, stability and prosperity.
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“I gave orders for the formation of a special commission to be headed by the country’s attorney general that will include government and non-government personalities for the comprehensive investigations of the incident”.
Spokesmen for ISIS quickly claimed responsibility for the attack at a traffic circle jammed with demonstrators, according to Afghan media.
National Directorate for Security said three bombers were involved in the terroist attack.
An Afghan woman weeps at the site of a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan July 23, 2016. The United States Embassy in Kabul also condemned the attack.
Less than 40% of the population in Afghanistan are connected to the national grid, according to the World Bank.
An Afghan official says the death toll in the bombing of a mass protest in Kabul has risen to 61.
The office of President Ashraf Ghani said that march organizers had been warned to call off the demonstration after intelligence was received that an attack was likely.
But for some, there was a sense of fury at both the government and Hazara political leaders who they said have exploited the grievances of their community at longstanding discrimination to shore up their own power bases. Numerous leaders did not attend Saturday’s demonstration.
The Afghan Ministry of the Interior said that 81 people had been killed and 231 wounded in the bombing. A Health Ministry spokes-man gave a higher number of people injured – 260.
“Two fighters from Islamic State detonated explosive belts at a gathering of Shi’ites in the city of Kabul in Afghanistan”, said a brief statement on the group’s Amaq news agency.
If the Islamic State claim is confirmed, it would mark the first time the terror organization mounted an attack in the Afghan capital.
The Hazaras – mostly Shia Muslims – live mainly in the centre of the country.
Members of Afghanistan’s Hazara minority continued to occupy Demazang Square on Sunday, the area which was bombed as the demonstrator’s peaceful protest was winding down. He had no further details.
“We were asked by the officials of the Enlighten Movement [who organized the demonstration] not to bury the dead bodies for a while, but we did it anyway”, Rezaee said.
Seddiq Sediqqi, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, says police were working to confirm initial reports of the blast.
Roadblocks that had been set up overnight to prevent the marchers accessing the city center or the presidential palace hampered efforts to transfer some of the wounded to hospitals, witnesses said.
It was their second demonstration; the first was in May with had a much better turnout and attended by senior Hazara politicians who were absent from Saturday’s march.
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The last protest in May attracted thousands of people and shut down the central business district.
