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According to the authorities, at least 18 people were killed in a suicide attack in Kabul. Another 57 people were injured in the attack on a training center in the western district of Dascht-e Bartschi, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said Saturday night (local time).
The security forces discovered the perpetrator when he tried to access the facilities. Shortly thereafter it was blown up in an alley, killing many young men in the process. According to the information, most of the victims were between 15 and 26 years old.
The Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia claimed the attack for itself. A “knight martyr” detonated an explosive belt at a gathering of Shiites, according to the EI Nashir News platform.
The western district of Kabul, which is inhabited mainly by Shiites, has often been the target of terrorist attacks in the past. Sunni extremists like ISIS supporters fight Shiites as apostates.
“Cowardly and Godless Terrorists”
In March, the Islamic State carried out two attacks in western Kabul with dozens of deaths, against Shiites and followers of the Sikh religion. In an attack on a maternity ward in May, strangers killed many mothers with their newborn children. The United States blamed ISIS for this.
Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the Afghanistan High Council for Reconciliation, condemned the attack. “Cowardly and ungodly terrorists have shown by attacking innocent children and students that they do not adhere to any religion or principle,” Abdullah said, according to a statement.
The efforts had recently suffered another setback: at least 25 security guards were killed in a Taliban attack in the north of the country.
