Suicide Bomb Kills 80 in Kabul

Afghans pray for the victims of a suicide bomb blast during a memorial in Kabul Afghans pray for the victims of a suicide bomb blast during a memorial in Kabul JAWAD JALALI/EPA

23 July 2016
On Saturday, 23 July 2016, a suicide bomb was detonated in Kabul, Afghanistan leaving 80 dead and 231 wounded.

The bomb was detonated during the Hazara people’s peaceful demonstration protesting a new power line route. ISIS took responsibility shortly after the blast occurred, while the Taliban denied any involvement.

After the attack, ambulances had difficulty getting to the scene because police had blocked roads with shipping containers in order to contain the protest. Hospitals were struggling to handle the amount of patients flooding their facilities. It was the worst attack Kabul had seen in years.

President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan declared a day of mourning after the deadly attack, while the Afghanistan Interior Ministry put a ban on all public gatherings for ten days after the attack. The president also swore revenge on those responsible. The United Nations (UN) is condemning the attack, with the top UN official in Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, declaring the attack a war crime. The United States and Russia both condemned the attack and renewed pledges of security.

The Hazara people are a Shia Muslim minority living in a predominantly Sunni Afghanistan. They were targeted during a protest of a new power line route. The line was originally supposed to run through the central province, but it was re-routed through the mountainous Salang pass north of Kabul. The government argues the change speeds up the project and saves millions of dollars. The Hazara people claim the move is prejudiced against them.

 

For more information read:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-protests-idUSKCN1030GB
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/07/deadly-blast-kills-10-kabul-protest-160723105351090.html%20
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/attack-on-afghan-protest-kills-at-least-80-wounds-231-is-claims-responsibility/article31090381/?click=sf_globefb%20
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/afghanistan-deadly-blast-protest-1.3692326%20
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2016/07/devastating-blasts-rip-hazara-protest-kabul-160723131756517.html
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=54542&Kw1=Kabul&Kw2=&Kw3=#.V9j5ZVt96Uk
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36874570

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