40 killed in ISIS suicide hit on Shias in Kabul
Attacker detonates himself at Tabayan Cultural Centre
Kabul, Dec. 28: Around 40 people were killed and dozens wounded in a suicide blast targeting Shias in Kabul on Thursday, officials said, with chaotic scenes at hospitals as anguished families sought loved ones.
The Islamic State group (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the gruesome assault, which happened in the same building as the Afghan Voice Agency, a media outlet which earlier reports had suggested could have been the target.
Deputy interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said the attack — the deadliest since a Shia mosque bombing in October that killed more than 50 worshippers — was aimed at the Tabayan cultural centre in the west of the city.
“The suicide attacker detonated himself during a gathering at Tabayan cultural centre causing many casualties,” Rahimi said. The main explosion was followed by two smaller bomb blasts as victims and survivors were leaving the scene.
Rahimi said the gathering was organised to mark the 38th anniversary of Soviet invasion in Afghanistan. An Afghan Voice Agency journalist said that over 100 people were at the event in the building’s basement.
There were chaotic scenes at the Istiqlal hospital where ambulances and police pickups brought victims, including women and children. Many of them had suffered severe burns to their faces and bodies, and shrapnel wounds, reporters said. Visibly distressed relatives searching for their loved ones inside the medical facility slapped their heads in fury as they cried and cursed the government for seemingly being unable to end the regular carnage on their streets.
Some were so distraught they crawled on the ground pulling their hair.
Reporters saw more than a dozen badly burned bodies lying on the floor in a room inside the hospital and wooden coffins being delivered so families could take away the bodies of their loved ones.
Thursday’s assault comes days after a suicide bomber killed six in an attack near an Afghan intelligence agency compound in the city, which was claimed by ISIS.