A suicide bomber blew himself up near a Shi’ite shrine in Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least 29 people and wounding 52, officials said.
Initial reports suggest the bomber attacked a crowd of hundreds of people who had gathered to celebrate the start of Nawruz holiday, the New Year festival. A spokesman for Kabul city police, Basir Mojahid, said the attacker was trying to reach the capital's Sakhi shrine, where people had amassed for the occasion
Before reaching the shrine, which was attacked during a Shi’ite festival in October 2016, the attacker was identified by security forces and blew himself up in front of Kabul University, Mojahid said. The blast happened about 12:40 p.m. local time.
“We had our security in place in and around the shrine,” Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danesh said. “All the casualties were young people who were either passing by on the road or gathering to enjoy Nawruz.”
The explosion underlined the threat to the city from militant attacks, despite government promises to tighten security in the wake of an attack in January that killed around 100 people.
Terrorist group ISIS, which has claimed several previous attacks on Shi’ite targets, claimed responsibility, its Amaq news agency said. The Taliban issued a statement denying any connection.
Kabul had been on alert for attacks over the Nawruz holiday but the bomber was still able to detonate his explosives as people were leaving the Kart-e Sakhi shrine, west of the city.
“When the explosion took place, I fell to the ground and I saw many people on the ground around me,” said Ramazan, who was wounded in the blast at the shrine, near the city’s main university.
Dr Waheed Majroh, a spokesman for the ministry of public health, said 29 people were confirmed dead with 52 wounded being treated in hospitals in the city. Women and children were among the casualties, he said.
Nawruz, an ancient Persian celebration of the start of spring, is widely celebrated in many parts of Afghanistan but has also faced opposition from some fundamentalists.
The seemingly endless attacks have undermined support for the government of President Ashraf Ghani, who offered last month to hold peace talks with Taliban insurgents fighting to drive out international forces and reimpose their version of Islamic law.
The Taliban have so far shown little sign of accepting the offer of talks with the Western-backed government, which they consider an illegitimate, foreign-imposed regime, although they have offered to talk to the United States.
