DUSHANBE, July 25, 2016, Asia-Plus – International media outlets report that at least 80 people have been killed and 231 others injured in twin suicide bombings at a demonstration in Kabul, the deadliest attack in Afghanistan since 2001.
According to
Reuters
, Mohammad Ismail Kawousi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, said that the dead and injured had been taken to nearby hospitals, adding that the toll could rise further.
The injured overwhelmed city hospitals, officials said, with reports emerging of blood shortages and urgent appeals for donors circulating on social media.
Three bombers from the Sunni terrorist group reportedly targeted a peaceful protest by thousands of Hazaras, a predominantly Shia ethnic minority, on Saturday. Afghan officials said that the carnage could have been worse because only one bomb detonated. A second bomber fled when his vest failed and the third was shot dead by police.
The Times
reports security chiefs in Kabul vowed to crush Islamic State in Afghanistan after the terrorist group claimed it carried out the suicide bombing. It was the first time that the jihadists had set off a bomb in the capital.
President Ashraf Ghani vowed “revenge” against the perpetrators of the attack and announced Sunday as a national day of mourning, according to
Reuters
.
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.
The demonstrators had been demanding the 500 kV transmission line from Turkmenistan to Kabul be rerouted through two provinces with large Hazara populations, an option the Government says would cost millions and delay the badly needed project by years.
Amnesty International said: “The horrific attack on a group of peaceful protestors in Kabul demonstrates the utter disregard that armed groups have for human life.”
“Such attacks are a reminder that the conflict in Afghanistan is not winding down, as some believe, but escalating, with consequences for the human rights situation in the country that should alarm us all.”
The attack comes nearly three weeks after a suicide bomber killed dozens of people in an attack on newly graduated police cadets that was claimed by the Taliban.
