Explosions rock Kabul funeral, killing at least 7
KABUL, Afghanistan — Three explosions on Saturday rocked the funeral service of a victim of antigovernment protests in Kabul, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens after a tense and bloody week in the Afghan capital.
The blasts followed a truck explosion Wednesday that killed nearly 100 people and wounded almost 500 near the presidential palace and foreign embassies.
The number of casualties Saturday was not immediately clear, but Wahidullah Majroh, a spokesman for the Health Ministry, said seven bodies had been recovered and 119 people had been taken to hospitals with injuries.
Local news media reported that at least 12 people had been killed, and the Emergency Hospital, one of Kabul’s main trauma centers, put the number of dead at 19.
Among the dead was a former deputy attorney general, Halim Samadi, and a well-known northern preacher, Mawlawi Jalal. The speaker of the Afghan Senate, Fazl Hadi Muslimyar, and several senior members of Jamiate-Islami, one of the country’s prominent political parties, were among the wounded.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombings. The Taliban denied any involvement, a spokesman said. But Salahuddin Rabbani, the foreign minister, who was attending the funeral service but was not injured, said, “Barbaric terrorists have turned a funeral into a slaughterhouse.”
In addition to Rabbani, Abdullah Abdullah, the government’s chief executive and President Ashraf Ghani’s coalition partner, was among other senior government officials at the funeral prayer. Abdullah was not injured.
More than a thousand people had gathered for the final prayer for Salem Izidyar, the son of the deputy speaker of the Senate, who was killed Friday during protests in Kabul calling for the resignation of the government for what many said was its failure to stop the truck bombing Wednesday. Security forces had opened fire to disperse the crowd.
The explosions came a day after Gen. Gul Nabi Ahmadzai, asked protesters not to hold public gatherings because of a high threat level from groups planning “to target our people’s gatherings and protests with suicide bombings, explosions and assaults.”
The calls for the resignations of security officials grew louder after the latest blasts, with many Afghans accusing Ahmdzai’s command of failing to take proper measures despite having information about looming threats.