Twin explosions tore through a street demonstration by members of Afghanistan’s mainly Shi’ite Muslim Hazara minority in Kabul, killing at least 80 people and wounding more than 230 in a suicide attack claimed by Islamic State.
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The marchers were demanding that a major regional electric power line be routed through their impoverished home province. “On April 18, local media received text messages allegedly from Shahidullah Shahid, a key figure in the establishment of Wilayat Khorasan, claiming responsibility on behalf of ISIS for the attack”, the Institute for the Study of War reported.
The May march was attended by Hazara political leaders, who were notable by their absence Saturday.
We will stand today, as we have stood for so many years, shoulder to shoulder with our Afghan partners and friends as they strive to bring peace, security, and prosperity to their country.
“The death toll has jumped to 64 and 265 others have been wounded”, health ministry spokesman Mohammad Ismail Kawoosi told AFP, adding that the toll could rise further.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack in a text message sent to media organizations.
The privately owned Afghan TOLOnews site quoted an unidentified high-ranking Afghan security official as saying security forces killed a third bomber before another explosive was detonated.
One of the march organizers Laila Mohammadi said she arrived at the scene soon after the blast and saw “many dead and wounded people”.
Seddiq Sediqqi, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, says police were working to confirm initial reports of the blast. The last one in May attracted tens of thousands of people, also shutting down the central business district.
President Ashraf Ghani released a statement condemning the blast.
The protest march was largely peaceful before the explosions struck as the demonstrators sought to march on the presidential palace, waving flags and chanting slogans such as “death to discrimination”.
The 500-kilovolt TUTAP power line, which would connect the Central Asian nations of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan with electricity-hungry Afghanistan and Pakistan, was originally set to pass through the central province.
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The demonstrators had gathered in a protest organised by the Enlightening Movement over the planned route of the 500kV power line project that the Afghanistan government intends to roll out. Protest leaders 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.
