He said the Enlighten Movement, which organized the protests, wants to have its own representatives and members of worldwide human rights organizations take part in the commission Ghani set up to investigate the attack.
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Demonstrators from Afghanistan’s Hazara minority.
Leaders of the marches have said that the rerouting was evidence of bias against the Hazara community, which accounts for up to 15% of Afghanistan’s estimated 30 million people. Most of the population is Sunni.
It appears to be the single deadliest attack in Kabul to be claimed by Daesh militants, who are making steady inroads in the country, challenging the Taliban on their own turf.
“Based on initial information, the attack was carried out by three suicide bombers.The third attacker was gunned down by security forces”. The Taliban, who are often behind major assaults in Afghanistan, denied any involvement.
President Ashraf Ghani condemned the bombings and said he was “deeply saddened” by the attack. The group has strug-gled to establish a foothold in Afghanistan in the past year, confining its activity to the moun-tainous eastern regions bordering Pakistan. He said that three district police chiefs on duty at the square were injured and another three security personnel were killed.
Spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri tells AP Saturday that government officials warned the march organizers that they risked attack because, “We knew that terrorists wanted to bring sectarianism to Kabul, and cause splits within our community”.
Reports say that “the demonstration was led by grassroots activists and Karim Khalili, the country’s former vice-president”. Numerous leaders did not attend Saturday’s demonstration.
More than 80 people were killed and 200 injured in a suicide attack in the Afghan capital on Saturday.
The Interior Ministry said at least 230 were being treated for injuries.
IS fighters detonated explosive belts amidst a “gathering of Shi’ites” in Deh Mazang, said the group’s Amaq News Agency.
At least 61 people were killed and more than 200 wounded Saturday when attackers detonated explosives amid a huge crowd of peaceful protesters in the Afghan capital, a lot of them from the country’s Shiite ethnic Hazara minority, health and police officials said.
Saturday’s attack was the first claimed by the Islamic State group in Kabul.
In the meantime the Afghan forces as well as the USA forces in Afghanistan are regularly targeting the loyalists of the terror group in eastern Nangarhar province to root out their presence from the country. Their bodies had been recovered in an area that was fraught with Taliban notoriety. He had no further details.
The demonstration, organized by the Enlightenment Movement, gathered to protest over the Afghan government’s planned 500kV power line project.
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Police have been moving trucks and containers into the city overnight Friday to block roads and prevent marchers reaching the city center or the presidential palace. The protest over the electricity transmission line has only added to the administration’s woes. The last one in May attracted tens of thousands.
