At least 80 people have been killed and hundreds injured after two
suicide bombers struck a peaceful protest in Kabul by a Shia minority
group.
Responsibility for the attack, which appears to have targeted a
demonstration by the Hazara minority, was claimed by Islamic State via
the group's news agency, Amaq. If true, it would mark the first attack by
Isis in Kabul, and its largest ever in Afghanistan.
According to a spokesman for the Afghan
interior ministry, 231 people were
wounded, though this figure could rise.
The attack, the deadliest in Kabul since
2001, has raised fears of an intensification
in sectarian conflict. Since Afghanistan's civil war in the 1990s the
country has largely been spared the sectarian violence that plagues
neighbouring Pakistan, as well as Iraq and Syria, where Isis has
deliberately tried to stoke ethnic tensions.
Hazaras have historically suffered discrimination and persecution. The
protesters were marching against government plans for a major power
project to bypass Bamiyan, a predominantly Hazara province in the
central highlands. Following similar protests in May, Afghanistan's
president, Ashraf Ghani, established a commission to look into the issue
but government attempts to find a compromise failed. On 19 June, a
contract was signed to build a smaller electricity line through Bamiyan,
which did not placate Hazara activists.
In the hours after the attack, details of casualties were unclear, but some
security forces seemed to have been among the killed. As people were
frantically calling friends present at the protests, calls went out on social
media for blood donations to the city's poorly resourced hospitals. "I was
standing by the side of the crowd, behind an ice cream truck," said one
protester, Aman Turkmani. When the blast happened, "first the ice cream
cart exploded, then he exploded. The sound of the explosion was very
strong," he said.
Hours after the attack on Saturday, Amaq
said Isis had sent two fighters with suicide
belts to detonate among "a Shia gathering".
If confirmed, the attack would be the
group's first against civilians in the Afghan
capital. Kabul has become increasingly
unnerved, particularly after another massive
attack in April, which also killed 64 people. That attack was the deadliest
in the capital since 2011.
Isis has so far been concentrated in a few districts in Afghanistan's
eastern provinces, where they have battled for turf with the Taliban.
Their fighting force of 2,000-3,000 fighters is relatively small, but
Saturday's attack is likely to stoke fears that Isis is gaining strength in
the country. Most Afghans consider Isis to be an alien, extremist group,
that is far more radical than the Taliban.
Ghani said in a statement: "Opportunist terrorists went among the
protesters and set off explosions that killed and wounded a number of our
countrymen, including security and defence personnel." Leading Hazara
representatives in the government had refused to endorse the protesters,
accusing them of fuelling ethnic tension. Instead, the demonstration was
led by grassroots activists and Karim Khalili, the country's former vice-
president.
According to a western official, the head of Afghanistan's intelligence
service had earlier this week tried to persuade the protesters to cancel the
event. The government deployed minimal security personnel to protect
protesters, focusing instead on keeping them away from the city centre.
At a previous demonstration, in late 2015, protesters who attempted to
scale the wall of the presidential palace were shot at.
On Saturday, to keep the demonstration away from the palace, authorities
blocked central roads, forcing protesters to gather at Deh Mazang Square,
about two miles from the palace. To Hazaras, the power project is about
more than electricity. A Shia minority making up an estimated 9% of the
Afghan population, Hazaras have historically felt discriminated by the
government and persecuted by insurgents.
The worst recent attack on Shias was in 2011 when twin blasts in Kabul
and Mazar-i Sharif killed as many as 80 worshipers, most of them
Hazaras who had gathered to commemorate the holy Shia day of Ashura.
Hazaras have also been targeted in highway kidnappings, some of which
have ended in killings of hostages. In 2015, seven relatives were
kidnapped and beheaded by Islamists in Zabul province, sparking
protests outside the presidential palace in demand for better protection of
Hazaras.
Many Afghan migrants and refugees who travel to Europe are Hazaras
who argue for asylum on grounds of persecution. Bamiyan and Kabul,
where Saturday's attack took place, are two out of three provinces, which
the UK government deem safe enough to deport Afghans to.
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