A bomb blast ripped through a minibus in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, Saturday (January 6) evening, killing at least two civilians and wounding 14 others.
The attack reportedly occurred in the city’s western Dasht-e Barchi Shiite Muslim neighborhood.
The blast sparked strong reactions among Afghan politicians.
TOLOnews reports that Khalid Zadran, a spokesperson for the Taliban-led Kabul police, confirmed the casualties, saying the injured were rushed to hospitals and the bombing was under investigation.
According to TOLOnews, Former President Hamid Karzai condemned the blast and called it a “terrorist” attack which is “against Islamic and human values."
No group immediately took credit for the deadly attack, but the Voice of America (VOA) says suspicions fell on a regional Islamic State (IS) terrorist group’s affiliate known as Islamic State-Khorasan, or IS-K.
Dasht-e-Barchi has reportedly experienced persistent deadly militant bombings, targeting Shiite mosques, schools and hospitals. IS-K has claimed credit for almost all recent attacks.
The group has carried out high-profile attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban regained control of the country more than two years ago. The violence has killed hundreds of people, including Shiite Afghans and Taliban members.
Taliban Defense Minister Mohammad Yaqoob reportedly told a televised news conference in late December that there had been a 90% decrease in IS-K attacks in the past year, attributing it to his government's counterterrorism operations.
According to VOA, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government spokesperson, reiterated on January 6 that the crackdown on IS-K had degraded its ability to harm Afghanistan and other countries.
He spoke to local media a day after Reuters news agency reported that "communications intercepts collected by the United States" confirmed that twin bombings conducted by IS-K in neighboring Iran on January killed nearly 100 people.
The Sunni-based IS terrorist group claimed responsibility for the bloodshed in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman but did not specify that its Afghanistan-based affiliate carried it out.
The United States has consistently described IS-K as a dangerous entity.
