The so-called Islamic State has claimed responsibility for killing at least 80 people and wounding 231 during a peaceful demonstration in Kabul, Afghanistan, by a minority group on Saturday.
“I saw tens of people laying down in blood around me and hundreds of people running away from the scene,” said Fatima Faizi, an Afghan freelance journalist.
Emergency, an Italian medical organisation that assists in war-torn countries, tweeted that its hospital had received four victims and that there were “many wounded and killed.”
The attack, the worst in terms of casualties in several weeks, drew attention to IS instead of the Taliban, which had been credited with recent bombings.
Two IS fighters detonated their suicide belts among the protesters, according to IS’ media wing, Amaq.
The blast in Kabul on Saturday afternoon happened during a demonstration by members of the Hazara, a Shiite minority group, near the Afghan Parliament building and Kabul University.
The group was demanding a large power project that could potentially ensure a power supply through their home Bamyan province, a relatively isolated area west of Kabul.
The Taliban denied responsibility for Saturday’s bombing but have claimed credit for other recent attacks. They also have been accused of targeting the Hazara, a Persian-speaking people who mainly live in central Afghanistan and follow the Shia branch of Islam.
US and other diplomats were barred from travelling by road the short distance from the city’s international airport to their diplomatic missions. Instead, they are ferried by helicopter.
Source: CNN
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