Persian new year suicide bomber kills 31 in Kabul
An Isis suicide bomber has struck in Kabul, killing dozens of people as they celebrated Persian new year.
The attack, which has left at least 31 dead, occurred on the road to a Shia shrine in the capital of Afghanistan.
The terrorist group claimed responsibility for the bombing in an online statement, saying the attack was targeted at “a gathering of Shias celebrating Nauruz”.
Nauruz, as it is known in Afghanistan, is the Persian new year, and a national holiday in which the minority Shias typically celebrate by visiting shrines.
The Public Health Ministry said another 65 people were wounded in the attack, which was carried out by a bomber on foot.
Afghanistan is home to a powerful Isis affiliate that has repeatedly targeted Shias. Military officials have identified Afghanistan as one of several hubs for Isis following the loss of its self-declared “caliphate” in Syria and Iraq.
The group’s regional branch, named Wilayat Khorasan, has been competing against the Taliban since gathering support from local militants in 2014.
The two terrorist groups have been battling for control over areas of Nangarhar and Farah provinces, as well as continuing an insurgency against the Afghan government.
Isis has been responsible for several deadly bombings and shootings in Kabul and other Afghan cities, predominantly targeting Shia Muslims, as well as assassinations across the country.
The militants’ activity has drawn increasing US air strikes against them in Afghanistan, as well as against the Taliban and al-Qaeda factions, seeing a record 653 bombs, missiles and other munitions dropped in October alone.
The Pentagon says the latest suicide bombing took place a day after US Generla Joseph Dunford was in the city. He had been in Kabul for meetings with top Afghan leaders on Tuesday but then travelled into the mountainous east, where he met with military officers and advisers.
According to a report this month by Reporters without Borders, Afghanistan is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for media workers. Two journalists and five media assistants were killed doing their jobs in 2017.