Afghanistan plans for a military offensive in coordination with USA troops against the Islamic State have become more urgent as the country marked a national day of mourning Sunday for 80 people killed and 231 injured in Kabul’s worst attack in 15 years.
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A report on the Amaq News Agency, ISIS’s “media outlet” claimed responsibility for the attack, and said two fighters blew themselves up.
Saturday’s protest over the route of a multimillion dollar power line, which demonstrators wanted to re-route through two provinces with large Hazara populations, had become a touchstone for a wider sense of injustice.
Afghan protesters from Hazara minority stand at the blast site after a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Waheed Majroeh, the head of worldwide relations for the Ministry of Public Health, confirmed the death toll and said it was likely to rise “as the condition of numerous injured is very serious”.
In a live television address yesterday, Ghani says “I promise you I will take revenge against the culprits”.
Presidential spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri told the Associated Press that one of the suicide bombers was shot by the police.
In a statement, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he was “deeply saddened” by the carnage, adding that the casualties included security officials.
“Based on initial information, the attack was carried out by three suicide bombers…”
According to MoI, at least 80 people lost their lives and 231 others sustained injuries in the attack.
The attack, claimed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and described by the top United Nations official in Afghanistan as a “war crime”, drew condemnation and offers of support from countries including Russian Federation and the United States.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast. Both Ghani and the government’s chief executive officer, Abdullah Abdullah, issued statements condemning the attack.
The White House also condemned the attack, saying that it “was made all the more despicable by the fact that it targeted a peaceful demonstration”.
Saturday’s protest follows a similar demonstration in May, which drew tens of thousands of people.
Afghans help a man who was injured in a deadly explosion that struck a protest march by ethnic Hazaras, at a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, July 23, 2016.
It is part of the TUTAP project backed by the Asia Development Bank, linking energy-rich states of Central Asia with Afghanistan and Pakistan. Most Afghans are Sunni, and the IS group regards Shiites as apostates. During the Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule, Hazaras were often brutalized more than other ethnic groups.
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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.
