Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesperson for Taliban, said in an email that this attack was an attempt to create a divide among people and clarified that the group is not behind it. A statement said the attack was meant to warn Afghanistan’s ethnic Hazaras, who are mostly Shiite, to stop joining the Syrian government in its fight against the terror group.
Advertisement
The worst previous attack against the Hazara was in December 2011, when more than 55 people were killed in Kabul during the Shi’ite festival of Ashura.
Three weeks ago, two Taliban suicide bombers killed 34 people when they attacked a convoy of buses carrying newly graduated police officers in Kabul.
President Ashraf Ghani, speaking live on television, said that Sunday would be a national day of mourning.
He added that he has order the prosecutor general’s office and a special commssion to investigate the attack and bring all those responsible to justice.
In May, the Hazaras claimed their rights to electrical power along with their political leaders in a similar protest.
The ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ismail Kawoosi reported that “The death toll has risen to 61 and 207 others have been wounded”, further saying that there is a possibility of the toll rising.
The ministry says in a statement Saturday that at least 231 people were wounded. Most of the population is Sunni. The ministry’s deputy spokesman, Najib Danish, said the blast was the biggest in Afghanistan since 2001, when the Taliban launched their brutal insurgency after they were toppled by the 2001 USA invasion. “The first person carried out a blast, the second one failed at his detonation, and the third terrorist was killed in shooting by the security forces”.
The President said I am shocked and saddened to learn ofthe blast which hit Deh Mazang square in Kabul today. The death toll is the single deadliest attack on the Shi’ite minority during the entire United States occupation. The U.S embassy in Kabul also issued a condemnation.
A presidential spokesman told The Associated Press that the government had received intelligence warning of an attack and had warned the organizers.
The Afghan government confirmed they feared a terrorist attack on the march.
The government says the project already guarantees ample power to the two provinces and denies it disadvantages Hazara people.
Numerous leaders did not attend Saturday’s demonstration.
Waheed Majroeh, the head of global relations for the Ministry of Public Health, said that 31 people had been confirmed dead, and another 160 wounded.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement issued by its news agency, Aamaq.
Advertisement
The Islamic State group is claiming responsibility for the deadly bombing of a protest march in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
