Twin blasts in Kabul target Shia neighbourhood, leave 20 dead
KABUL: At least 20 people including two journalists have been killed in twin blasts at a Kabul wrestling club on Wednesday officials said, in the latest assault on the Afghan capital.
Another 70 people were wounded, including four journalists.
An hour after a suicide bomber blew himself up inside the sports hall in a heavily Shia neighbourhood, a car packed with explosives detonated as journalists and security forces gathered at the scene, police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai said.
At least four journalists were wounded in the second explosion, media support group NAI told AFP.
Tolo News confirmed two of their journalists, a reporter and a cameraman, were killed.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the twin explosions, but the Islamic State group often targets Afghanistan’s minority Shia community.
“I was outside when the first explosion happened, which has killed over 30 people, many of them wrestlers,” Pahlawan Shir, director of the Maiwand wrestling club, told AFP. “I was searching for my coach, I have finally found him in the... hospital. He is in a critical condition.”
Social media users who purportedly witnessed the attack said the bomber killed the guards at the club before blowing himself up inside.
He “detonated inside where a large number of athletes had gathered. There are a lot of dead and wounded”, Mohammad Hanif said on Facebook.
A photo posted on Twitter purportedly showed several victims being loaded into the back of a police pick-up van.
The last major attack on Shias in Kabul was on August 15 when a suicide bomber blew himself up in an education centre, killing dozens of students.
IS said it was behind that attack, which drew international condemnation and came amid a wave of deadly violence across the country.
Most of the victims were studying for college entrance exams when the blast happened.
That was followed a day later by an attack on an intelligence training centre in Kabul.
Civilians have long borne the brunt of the violence in Afghanistan -- especially in Kabul, a target of both the Taliban and IS.
Journalists also have paid a heavy price covering the conflict. On April 30, twin explosions in Kabul killed nine journalists and 16 other people.
Among the dead was AFP chief photographer Shah Marai.