Kabul: A suicide bomber struck a crowd of Shia worshippers at a mosque in Kabul on Tuesday, killing at least 55 people in the deadliest of two attacks on Muharram — the first major sectarian assaults since the fall of the Taliban a decade ago.
Four other Shias were killed in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif when a bomb strapped to a bicycle exploded as a convoy of Afghan Shias was drivingdown the road, shouting slogans for Ashoura — the 10th day of Muharram. Health Ministry spokesman Sakhi Kargar said 21 people were also wounded in that attack.
The Kabul bomber blew himself up in the midst of a crowd of men, women and children gathered outside the Abul Fazl shrine. AP ‘Holy day strike unprecedented’
Kabul: In a major sectarian assault in Afghanistan, 55 Shia worshippers were killed in two deadly blasts. The ministry of interior said the dead included two women and four children.
Sayed Kabir Amiri, who is in charge of Kabul hospitals said more than 160 have been wounded in the blast. He said casualties were taken to several hospitals and the toll could rise.
Religiously motivated attacks on Shias are rare in Afghanistan although they are common in Pakistan. No group claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s blasts, reminiscent of the wave of sectarian attacks that shook Iraq during the height of the war there.
The ministry of interior in a statement blamed the Taliban and “terrorists”, for the attack. It provided no other details but added that police defused another bomb that had been planted in Mazar-i-Sharif near the one that blew up.
The Taliban strongly condemned the two attacks and said in a statement to news organizations that they deeply regretted that innocent Afghans were killed and wounded.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai, speaking at a news conference after meeting German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, said the attack was unprecedented in scope.
He said it was “the first time that on such an important religious day in Afghanistan terrorism of that horrible nature is taking place.”
Mohammad Bakir Shaikzada, the top Shia cleric in Kabul, said he could not remember a similar attack having taken place on such a scale.
“This is a crime against Muslims during the holy day of Ashoura. We Muslims will never forget these attacks. It is the enemy of the Muslims who are carrying them out,” he said, declining to place blame.
Shias make up about 20% of Afghanistan’s 30 million people, most of them ethnic Hazaras. Although thousands of Hazaras were massacred by the Taliban during fighting in the 1990s,
Afghan insurgents — nearly all of them Sunnis — in recent years have focused their attacks primarily on US-led Nato troops and Afghan security forces. It was unclear whether Tuesday’s attacks mark a change in Afghan Taliban strategy or were carried out by al-Qaida or another group based in Pakistan, where Sunni attacks on Shias are common.
The last incident of violence between Shias and Sunnis following the US invasion 10 years ago occurred in early 2006, during Ashoura in the western city of Herat. AP
KABUL: CAPITAL TERROR The blast a day after an international conference in Bonn underscores the frailty of Afghan peace
Oct 29, 2011 | 13 US troops operating under Nato among
17 people killed in a car bomb attack on a military convoy
Sept 20 | Ex-president and peace negotiator Burhanuddin Rabbani killed by a Taliban suicide bomber at his home in the diplomatic zone Sept 13/14 | Taliban attack on US embassy and headquarters of foreign troops kills 14 during a 19-hour siege Aug 19 | Suicide bombers attack the British Council cultural centre, 9 die
June 28 | Suicide bombers storm
luxury Intercontinental Hotel, 21 dead
Jan 28 | Blast at a
supermarket popular with
foreigners kills 8
Feb 26, 2010 | Suicide attacks on two
guesthouses kill 16
people, including seven
Indians
Oct 28, 2009 |
Eight people, including five
UN staff, killed in a Taliban
strike at a Kabul hostel. Three attackers also die
Oct 8 | Seven Afghan civilians are killed and 45 wounded in a blast outside the Indian embassy
July 7, 2008 | Car bomb
attack on the Indian embassy building kills more than 60
Jan 14 | Taliban gunmen storm the Serena Hotel near the presidential palace, killing 6
Four other Shias were killed in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif when a bomb strapped to a bicycle exploded as a convoy of Afghan Shias was drivingdown the road, shouting slogans for Ashoura — the 10th day of Muharram. Health Ministry spokesman Sakhi Kargar said 21 people were also wounded in that attack.
The Kabul bomber blew himself up in the midst of a crowd of men, women and children gathered outside the Abul Fazl shrine. AP ‘Holy day strike unprecedented’
Kabul: In a major sectarian assault in Afghanistan, 55 Shia worshippers were killed in two deadly blasts. The ministry of interior said the dead included two women and four children.
Sayed Kabir Amiri, who is in charge of Kabul hospitals said more than 160 have been wounded in the blast. He said casualties were taken to several hospitals and the toll could rise.
Religiously motivated attacks on Shias are rare in Afghanistan although they are common in Pakistan. No group claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s blasts, reminiscent of the wave of sectarian attacks that shook Iraq during the height of the war there.
The ministry of interior in a statement blamed the Taliban and “terrorists”, for the attack. It provided no other details but added that police defused another bomb that had been planted in Mazar-i-Sharif near the one that blew up.
The Taliban strongly condemned the two attacks and said in a statement to news organizations that they deeply regretted that innocent Afghans were killed and wounded.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai, speaking at a news conference after meeting German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, said the attack was unprecedented in scope.
He said it was “the first time that on such an important religious day in Afghanistan terrorism of that horrible nature is taking place.”
Mohammad Bakir Shaikzada, the top Shia cleric in Kabul, said he could not remember a similar attack having taken place on such a scale.
“This is a crime against Muslims during the holy day of Ashoura. We Muslims will never forget these attacks. It is the enemy of the Muslims who are carrying them out,” he said, declining to place blame.
Shias make up about 20% of Afghanistan’s 30 million people, most of them ethnic Hazaras. Although thousands of Hazaras were massacred by the Taliban during fighting in the 1990s,
Afghan insurgents — nearly all of them Sunnis — in recent years have focused their attacks primarily on US-led Nato troops and Afghan security forces. It was unclear whether Tuesday’s attacks mark a change in Afghan Taliban strategy or were carried out by al-Qaida or another group based in Pakistan, where Sunni attacks on Shias are common.
The last incident of violence between Shias and Sunnis following the US invasion 10 years ago occurred in early 2006, during Ashoura in the western city of Herat. AP
KABUL: CAPITAL TERROR The blast a day after an international conference in Bonn underscores the frailty of Afghan peace
Oct 29, 2011 | 13 US troops operating under Nato among
17 people killed in a car bomb attack on a military convoy
Sept 20 | Ex-president and peace negotiator Burhanuddin Rabbani killed by a Taliban suicide bomber at his home in the diplomatic zone Sept 13/14 | Taliban attack on US embassy and headquarters of foreign troops kills 14 during a 19-hour siege Aug 19 | Suicide bombers attack the British Council cultural centre, 9 die
June 28 | Suicide bombers storm
luxury Intercontinental Hotel, 21 dead
Jan 28 | Blast at a
supermarket popular with
foreigners kills 8
Feb 26, 2010 | Suicide attacks on two
guesthouses kill 16
people, including seven
Indians
Oct 28, 2009 |
Eight people, including five
UN staff, killed in a Taliban
strike at a Kabul hostel. Three attackers also die
Oct 8 | Seven Afghan civilians are killed and 45 wounded in a blast outside the Indian embassy
July 7, 2008 | Car bomb
attack on the Indian embassy building kills more than 60
Jan 14 | Taliban gunmen storm the Serena Hotel near the presidential palace, killing 6
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