At least 41 killed in suicide bomb attack on Afghan Shia centre
● Islamic State claims responsibility for Kabul atrocity
At least 41 people were killed and 84 injured in a suicide bomb attack in the Afghan capital Kabul.
The attack at the Shia Muslim cultural centre was so severe many of the injured suffered severe burns from the intensity of the explosions.
Islamic State said it was responsible.
The Is-linked Aamaq news agency said three bombs were used in the assault as well as a single suicide bomber who blew himself up inside the centre, where scores of people had gathered to mark the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the former Soviet Union.
In a statement to Aamaq, IS claimed the centre was being funded by Iran and used to propagate Shia beliefs.
Shia leader Abdul Hussain Ramazandada said witness es reported that at least one suicide bomber had sneaked into the event and was sitting among the participants. He detonated the bomb and as people fled there were more explosions, Mr Ramazandada said.
At nearby Istiqlal Hospital, director Mohammed Sabir Nasib said the emergency room was “overwhelmed” with the dead and wounded. Additional doctors and nurses were called in to help and more than 50 doctors and nurses were working to save the wounded, most of whom suffered extreme burns.
The centre is in a poor area of the Shia-dominated Dashte-barchi district in west Kabul. It is a simple structure surrounded by sun-dried mud homes where some of the city’s poorest live.
A member of the Shia cleric council, Mohammad Asif Mesbah, said the centre may have been targeted because it houses the pro-iranian Afghan Voice news agency. Its owner Sayed Eissa Hussaini Mazari is a strong proponent of Iran and his publication is dominated by Iranian news. Iran is a majority Shia Muslim nation.
The local IS affiliate has carried out several attacks on Shia in Afghanistan. After an attack on the Iraqi embassy in Kabul this year, IS vowed to target Afghanistan’s Shia.
Since then, the is has claimed responsibilty for at least two attacks on Shia mosques in Kabul and one in the western city of Herat, killing scores of worshippers.
The taliban denied involvement in yesterday’ s attack.
The IS affiliate, made up of Sunni extremists, view Shia as apostates. The IS in Afghanistan is a toxic mix of Uzbek militants belonging to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan who broke with the Taliban, as well as disenchanted insurgents who left the much larger and more well-established Taliban.
As attacks on Shia have increased in Kabul, residents have become increasingly fearful. Most schools have additional armed guards from among the local population. Still, Mr Ramazandada said security at the cultural centre was light.
Afghan president Ashraf Ghani called the attack a “crime against humanity.”
In a statement released by the presidential palace, Mr Ghani said: “The terrorists have killed our people. The terrorists have attacked our mosques, our holy places and now our cultural centre.”
He called them attacks against Islam and “all human values”.
US ambassador to Afghanistan John Bass called the attack “horrific” and said: “We remain confident the Afghan government and people, supported by their friends and partners, will defeat those behind these terrible acts.”
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: “I am appalled by this despicable attack on a cultural centre which has claimed so many innocent lives.
“We remain determined in our resolve to help the Afghan people overcome terror and we are committed to supporting the Afghan government in seeking a brighter future for its people.”