Afghanistan marks day of mourning after deadly attack
Daesh claimed responsibility for bombing that targeted a Hazara community march
KABUL— Afghanistan marked a national day of mourning on Sunday, a day after a suicide bomber killed at least 80 people who were taking part in a peaceful demonstration in Kabul. The attack was claimed by Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
Authorities say another 231 people were wounded, some seriously, in the bombing Saturday afternoon on a march by members of the ethnic Hazara community, who are predominantly Shiite Muslim. Most Afghans are Sunni, and Daesh regards Shiites as apostates.
The attack was the first by Daesh on Kabul — and the capital’s worst since a vicious Taliban insurgency began 15 years ago — raising concerns about the group’s reach and capability in Afghanistan.
Bereaved families collected their dead from hospitals and morgues across the capital, and began digging graves as the first funerals went ahead in the west of the capital.
Many people chose to bury their dead together with others — rather than in traditional family plots — encouraged by organizers of the Saturday demonstration, who call themselves the Enlighten Movement. In a hilltop graveyard in the Surkh Abad suburb of southwestern Kabul, hundreds of people, most of them men, braved high winds and swirling dust to conduct the Shiite funeral rites.
Simple wooden coffins covered in the green Shiite flag were carried by men on their shoulders and lowered into graves that relatives had dug themselves with shovels.
In the city’s west, in Omaid-a-Sabz, the grieving chose to bury their dead side by side in long rows. Mullah Mohammad Hassan Rasat said the Hazara people felt a deep sense of injustice and anger that the government had not kept its election promise to ensure that development was equal for all Afghan ethnic groups.
“Our people only want justice and equal development for all,” he said.
Hazaras account for up to 15 per cent of Afghanistan’s population, estimated at around 30 million, and say they face discrimination. During the Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule, the Hazaras were often treated brutally. The Tali- ban were quick to deny culpability for the Saturday attack, however, issuing a statement before Daesh claimed responsibility.
The Saturday attack has raised concerns about sectarianism, and the Interior Ministry announced a ban on public gatherings and demonstra- tions in an apparent bid to avoid any intercommunal strife. A presidential spokesman pointed out that the ban on public gatherings would not apply to the funerals for Saturday’s victims.
Daesh has had a presence in Afghanistan for the past year, mainly in the eastern province of Nangarhar along the Pakistani border. The Afghan military, backed by U.S. troops, is planning an offensive against Daesh positions in Nangarhar in the coming days.
Prior to the Saturday attack, thousands of Hazaras had marched through Kabul to demand the rerouting of a power line through their impoverished province of Bamiyan, in the central highlands. It was their second demonstration; the first was in May with a much better turnout and attended by senior Hazara politicians, who were absent from Saturday’s march.
The office of President Ashraf Ghani said that march organizers had been warned to call off the demonstration after intelligence was received that an attack was likely.