33 KILLED IN KABUL BLAST
ISLAMIC STATE CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY Blast hits Nowruz festivities
An injured person being taken to a hospital after a blast in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday. A suicide bomber blew himself up near a Shiite shrine, killing at least 33 people.
KABUL: A suicide bomber blew himself up near a Shia shrine in Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least 33 people as Afghans celebrated the Persian new year, authorities said.
Wahid Majro, spokesman for the public health ministry, said 65 people were wounded in the attack, which was carried out by a bomber on foot.
Islamic State claimed the attack in an online statement, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi websites. The group said the attack targeted “a gathering of Shias celebrating Nowruz.”
The Taliban issued a statement denying any connection.
Kabul had been on alert for attacks over the Nowruz holiday but the bomber was still able to detonate his explosives as people were leaving the Kart-e Sakhi shrine, in a heavily Shia area in the west of the city.
“When the explosion took place, I fell to the ground and I saw many people on the ground around me,” said Ramazan, who was wounded in the blast at the shrine, near the city’s main university.
An interior ministry spokesman said the bomber had apparently intended to reach the shrine, which was attacked during a Shia festival in October 2016, but had been prevented from getting closer by police checkpoints.
“We had our security in place in and around the shrine,” he said.
“All the casualties were young people who were either passing by on the road or gathering to enjoy Nawruz.”
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in a statement condemned the attack, calling it a “crime against humanity”.
UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres condemned the attack calling Nowruz “a time of renewal and celebration” when the values of peace and solidarity should be promoted, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, adding “those who have organised this attack must be brought to justice.”
Nawruz, an ancient Persian celebration of the start of spring, is widely celebrated in many parts of Afghanistan but has also faced opposition from some fundamentalist Muslims, who say it is un-Islamic.
The seemingly endless attacks have undermined support for the Ghani government, which had offered last month to hold peace talks with Taliban insurgents fighting to drive out international forces and reimpose their version of strict Islamic law.
The Taliban have so far shown little sign of accepting the offer of talks with the Western-backed government, which they consider an illegitimate, foreign-imposed regime.