Kabul mourns deadliest attack in last 15 years

Kabul was plunged into mourning Sunday after the deadliest attack for 15 years killed 80 people and left hundreds maimed, reigniting concern that the Islamic State group was seeking to expand its foothold in Afghanistan.

Tempers were frayed a day after the twin bombings that tore through crowds of Shiite Hazara protesters, as many anxiously searched hospitals and morgues, looking among the mutilated bodies for missing relatives.

The attack in the majority Sunni country highlighted the risk of sectarian disharmony in a nation that has largely avoided the bloody strife between Sunnis and Shiites across much of the Muslim world.

“I promise you that I will avenge the blood of our loved ones on the perpetrators of this crime, wherever they are,” President Ashraf Ghani said, declaring Sunday a national day of mourning.

The bombings occurred as thousands of Hazara protesters had gathered to demand that a multi- million- dollar power line pass through their electricitystarved province of Bamiyan, one of the most deprived areas of Afghanistan.

Ghani renamed the site of the attack as “Martyr’s Square.” It remained littered with scorched metal, charred flesh and forlorn personal items including shoes, ID cards and protest banners with messages such as “Don’t eliminate us.”

IS claimed the bombings in a statement carried by its affiliated Amaq news agency.