Kabul sees deadliest attack since 2001, IS claims responsibility

Afghan Health Ministry officials say tens of people have been k… Islamic State claimed the assault as a “martyrdom attack” on Shiites, according to a statement on the Amaq News Agency website.

At least 80 people were killed and more than 230 wounded in one of the worst bombings since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001.

If confirmed as the work of Islamic State, the attack, among the most deadly since the U.S.-led campaign to oust the Taliban in 2001, would represent a major escalation for a group hitherto largely confined to the eastern province of Nangarhar.

Funerals were due to begin quietly in western Kabul as families collected their dead from hospitals and morgues across the capital. “I’m looking here if I can find anything more from other relatives”.

“It is like a second capital”, Afghan Army Gen. Shir Mohammad Karimi said, according to the AP.

“Our people only want justice and equal development for all”, he said.

The Taliban immediately denied any involvement but fighters loyal to the Syria and Iraq-based ISIL militant group claimed responsibility, highlighting that they had targeted Hazaras.

The Interior Ministry issued a ban on “any kind of public gathering and demonstration” for the next 10 days. A presidential spokesman pointed out that the ban on public gatherings would not apply to the funerals for Saturday’s victims.

In March, President Ghani declared on national television that after months of fighting in remote districts of Nangarhar near the Pakistani border, Islamic State in Afghanistan had been wiped out.

Afghanistan is in mourning Sunday in the aftermath of killing of 80 Hazara Shia Muslims Saturday.

United Nations Assisted Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) also spoke out against the attack saying, the act “targeted a peaceful demonstration, causing horrendous levels of civilian harm”.

Hazara demonstrators have continued to occupy Demazang Square, where the attack took place as the march was winding down and some prepared to set up a camp, Naji said.

Another protester who is mourning the death of a friend killed in the blasts said that they have “lost hope in the government” and will “not be able to recover from the shock”.

President Ghani’s office, however, noted that the organizers of the demonstration had been warned to cancel the protest after intelligence said that an attack was likely.

Protesters are demanding that the 500-kilovolt transmission line from Turkmenistan to Kabul be rerouted through the central province of Bamiyan, which has a large Hazara population.

The government said the project guaranteed ample power to the provinces, Bamyan and Wardak, which lie west of Kabul, and that altering the planned route would delay it by years and cost millions of dollars.

The site of the attack, which Ghani renamed “Martyr’s Square”, remained littered with scorched metal, charred flesh and personal items including shoes, ID cards and protest banners with messages such as “Don’t eliminate us”.