At least 80 dead, over 230 hurt in powerful Kabul blasts

Asia-Pacific, News July 23, 2016 , by IRIA No Comments

At least 81 people were killed and 230 wounded in bombings claimed by the Islamic State group that targeted Afghanistan’s ethnic Hazaras.

KABUL (Afghanistan) — Three suicide bombers killed at least 80 people and wounded more than 230 others at a protest in Kabul on Saturday, according to the Afghan health ministry, where thousands had gathered to demonstrate against plans to reroute a new power line.

Powerful explosions targetted demonstration by members of Afghanistan’s ethnic Hazara minority near one of the most heavily fortified areas of the Afghan capital.

It is the first attack claimed by ISIS in the Afghan capital. An Afghan intelligence agency official said the attack was carried out by three suicide bombers dispatched from Islamic State’s eastern stronghold in the Achin district. “There were three bombers and they were all armed with suicide vests. Probably they all detonated their explosives at once,” the official said.

“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.

So far, 80 bodies and more than 260 wounded people were taken to hospitals in Kabul, according to Ismail Kawoosi, a spokesman for the Afghan Health Ministry.

An Afghan man cries out among the dead and injured in Afghanistan’s Kabul after a bomb blast targeted Hazaras on 23 July 2016.

It was one of the deadliest attacks in the capital in years, according to Al Jazeera. “The city of Kabul is totally in a shock right now,” the news media reported.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he was “deeply saddened” by the carnage, adding that the casualties included security officials.

Many of the protesters were ethnic Hazaras, a Shiite minority group, who had gathered to oppose plans to reroute a planned power line—a decision they fear would deprive a central Afghan province of a major source of electricity and investment.

The demonstrators had gathered to demand a multi-million-dollar power line pass through their electricity-starved province of Bamiyan, one of the most deprived areas of Afghanistan with a large Hazara population.

The 500-kilovolt TUTAP power line, which would connect the Central Asian nations of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan with electricity-hungry Afghanistan and Pakistan, was originally set to pass through the central province.

Originally, the line was to pass through the impoverished provinces of Bamyan and Wardak, which host large Hazara populations. However, it was later rerouted, with the government alleging that the redesigned course cut costs.

The Hazara say they want the line to pass through Bamyan and Wardak, west of Kabul, where many of them live, to ensure their power supply.

The attack, the worst in terms of casualties in months, drew attention to ISIS instead of the Taliban, which had been blamed for recent bombings.

A bloodied man, who carried dead and wounded, speaks on the phone at the site of the suicide attack.

Who are the Hazaras?

Accounting for up to one-fifth of Afghanistan’s population, Hazaras, a Persian-speaking people who mainly live in central Afghanistan, have long been branded outsiders for their Shia faith and far Asian features in the country.

Of Mongolian and Central Asian descent
Mainly practise Shia Islam, in predominantly Sunni Afghanistan and Pakistan
Thought to be the third largest ethnic group in Afghanistan
Estimates suggest they make up 15-20% of Afghanistan’s population, which is thought to be about 30 million
At least 600,000 Hazaras live in Pakistan, most of them in Quetta