At least 22 folks have been injured after a bomb exploded in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, on Saturday.
The blast occurred in Kabul’s western district (Photo: File | Representative)
A bomb exploded in a busy purchasing road in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul on Saturday and a minimum of 22 folks have been injured, hospital officers and witnesses stated.
The blast occurred in a western district of the town the place members of the minority Shi’ite Muslim neighborhood often meet.
Video footage posted on-line confirmed ambulances dashing to the scene, which can also be close to bus stations.
A spokesman for the Taliban inside ministry stated an investigation group was on the blast web site to assist the wounded and assess casualties.
No militant group instantly claimed accountability for the assault, which got here forward of Ashura, a commemoration of the martyrdom of Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, which is marked primarily by Shi’ite Muslims.
On Friday, a minimum of eight folks have been killed and 18 injured in a blast in Kabul carried out by Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim militant group.
IS doesn’t management any territory in Afghanistan however does have lethal sleeper cells which have been concentrating on spiritual minorities within the nation, in addition to Taliban patrols.
Sunni Muslim Taliban authorities, who took over Afghanistan in August final yr after a two-decade insurgency, have stated they would offer extra safety for Shi’ite mosques and different services.
Sayed Kazum Hojat, a Shi’ite spiritual scholar in Kabul, stated the Taliban authorities had ramped up safety forward of Ashura however ought to enhance vigilance for any threats.
No up-to-date census knowledge exists, however estimates put the dimensions of Afghanistan’s Shi’ite neighborhood at between 10-20 per cent of the 39 million inhabitants, together with Persian-speaking Tajiks and Pashtuns in addition to Hazaras.
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