ISIS Claims Responsibility for Kabul Suicide Bombing That Killed 63
Written by SOURCE on August 18, 2019
ISIS has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Kabul, CNN reports. The organization told news outlets that a Pakistani fighter detonated his vest inside a Shia wedding on Saturday. The blast killed 63 people and injured 182 more.
The attack comes ahead of Afghan Independence Day on Monday, and occurred in the same area as the capital’s Darul Aman palace, where President Ashraf Ghani will mark the occasion.
The section of the Afghan capital has seen a number of attacks in recent weeks. Three suicide bombers representing the Taliban attacked the area earlier this month, killing 14 people and injuring 145 more. The ideologies that both the Taliban and ISIS subscribe to do not recognize Shiite Muslims as followers of Islam. The neighborhood in Kabul where the attacks have been centered is a home for many Shiite Hazara Afghanis.
“We were planning to sleep when we heard the sound of a loud explosion,” an unnamed witness said of the most recent bombing. “When I came outside, I saw smoke coming out of the hall. I saw dead bodies and wounded people, who were being taken to hospitals by policemen and Kabul ambulances. We are too in shock, too upset by the incident.”
President Ghani expressed sympathy and promised a crackdown on Twitter.
“My top priority for now is to reach out to the families of victims of this barbaric attack,” he wrote.
