SURVIVORS AWAIT NEWS OF LOVED ONES AS KABUL REELS AFTER ISIS SUICIDE ATTACK ON WEDDING
▶ Outside a hospital, many struggle to come to terms with yet another attack on a minority community, write Ruchi Kumar and Hikmat Noori in Kabul
The day after a horrifying suicide attack that killed 63 guests at a Kabul wedding, a crowd of people stood outside the emergency trauma hospital, desperate for news of their missing loved ones.
The explosion on Saturday evening, which was claimed by ISIS, targeted a Hazara Shiite – a minority in Afghanistan – wedding with more than 1,000 guests on the western edge of the city, injuring an additional 180 people.
There was an eerie silence among the relatives, friends and survivors of the attack as they waited for updates.
With many still in shock, others prayed silently, and all tried to come to terms with yet another bloody ISIS attack on civilians from a minority community.
“I just arrived from a mass funeral where we buried 13 members of one family,” one man told The National, too overwhelmed to share more. “This sorrow will stay with us for ever.”
Samiullah, 32, had not slept all night. His eyes were bloodshot and he sat cross-legged outside the hospital gate, an energy drink in his hand to help keep himself awake.
“Three of my relatives are inside with serious injuries. I am just waiting to be allowed to see them,” he said.
Samiullah’s clothes and hands were covered in dried blood as a result of having helped to bring some of the many injured wedding guests to hospital.
“They [ISIS] attack us everywhere – in mosques, schools, in our homes. It happens all over Afghanistan and our government can’t protect us,” he said.
A woman near by sobbed silently – her nephew, Nazir Ahmad, 24, an employee of Air India in Kabul, was among the injured, but she did not find out until the next morning.
The woman raised Nazir and his siblings after they lost their parents.
“All of Nazir’s friends died. They were all young and some of them recently got engaged. I am thankful to God that my nephew survived,” she said, choking back tears.
Mr Ahmad, whose brother Sakhi escaped injury in the bombing, was in a critical condition, with injuries to both his legs and the back of his head, his sister, Tooba Ahmad, 29, said. He had been through surgery and the family remained hopeful of his recovery.
“I lost my parents so my brothers are all I have. They are like my eyes,” Ms Ahmad said, quoting an Afghan phrase to refer to a loved one. “When I first heard about Nazir’s injuries, I felt my soul leave me.”
Aside from the shock, trauma and dread, the crowd was also angry and frustrated.
Repeated violent attacks on the city have claimed too many lives and left behind injuries and emotional scars.
“I don’t know what kind of Muslim they [the militants] are,” said Khan Mohammed, 70, whose nephew was in a coma because of injuries sustained in the attack. “In my 70 years I never before saw Muslims killing other Muslims in the name of Islam.”
From his hamlet, 13 people had been killed.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said 1,366 civilians were killed while 2,446 were injured in the first six months of the year as a result of fighting.