The government has announced a ban on public protests for at least 10 days after Saturday’s demonstration, which was largely peaceful before the explosions tore through the crowds. A presidential spokesman pointed out that the ban on public gatherings would not apply to funerals for Saturday’s victims. Hazara protesters had marched and gathered there in the latest of several large peaceful protests demanding that the government undertake a large power project to bring electricity to Bamiyan province, a Hazara-majority region in north-central Afghanistan.
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Russian Federation condemned the attack and renewed pledges of security assistance to Kabul.
In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the “heinous attack was made all the more despicable by the fact that it targeted a peaceful demonstration”. Secondary attacks have been known to target people who come to the aid of those wounded in a first explosion.
He said the Enlighten Movement wished to have its own representatives, as well as others from global human rights organizations, involved in a commission Ghani has established to investigate the incident.
The IS group has had growing a presence in Afghanistan for the past year.
The death toll was the highest of any terror attack in the capital after more than a decade of fighting between Taliban militants and Afghan and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces.
The ministry says in a statement Saturday that at least 231 people were wounded. Most of the population is Sunni.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement issued by its news agency, Aamaq.
The Taliban issued a statement denying involvement in Saturday’s attack, describing it as an attempt by IS to “ignite civil war”. “We strongly condemn the actions of Afghanistan’s enemies of peace and remain firmly committed to supporting our Afghan partners and the National Unity Government”.
Afghanistan is in a state of political and social turmoil, with the long-standing Taliban insurgency continuing in the country, while other extremist groups have also expanded their activities.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said in a statement that he was “deeply saddened” by this attack.
The Afghan Interior Ministry said that 81 people had been killed and 231 wounded in the bombing.
He said the figure was likely to rise, “as the condition of numerous injured is very serious”.
The Islamic State group is claiming responsibility for the deadly bombing of a protest march in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
The Hazaras – mostly Shia Muslims – live mainly in the centre of the country.
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What is behind the power line protest? One of the march organisers, Laila Mohammadi, said she arrived at the scene soon after the blast and saw “many dead and wounded people”. The last one in May attracted tens of thousands.
