Kabul, Dec 28: A suicide attack on an office of the Afghan Voice news agency and a neighbouring Shia cultural centre in the capital Kabul killed dozens on December 28, officials and witnesses said, with many of the victims students attending a conference. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.
Interior Ministry deputy spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said at least 40 people had been killed and 30 wounded in the blast, the latest in a series to have hit media organisations in Kabul.
The attack occurred during a morning panel discussion on the 38th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Sunni-majority Afghanistan at the Tabian Social and Cultural Centre, with many of those attending students, witnesses said.
Sayed Abbas Hussaini, a journalist at the agency, said there appeared to have been more than one explosion during the attack, following an initial blast at the entrance to the compound housing the two offices. He said one reporter at the agency had been killed and two wounded.
Photographs sent by witnesses showed what appeared to be serious damage at the site, in a heavily Shia Muslim area in the west of the capital, and a number of dead and wounded on the ground.
Deputy Health Minister Feda Mohammad Paikan said 35 bodies had been brought into the nearby Istiqlal hospital. Television pictures showed many of the injured suffered serious burns.
President Ashraf Ghani's spokesman issued a statement calling the attack an “unpardonable” crime against humanity and pledging to destroy terrorist groups.
Islamic State claims responsibility
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack. The suicide attack was carried out by one bomber wearing a vest and followed three other bomb blasts in the same area, the group’s Amaq news agency said in an online statement. Amaq, however, offered no evidence for the claim of responsibility.
Afghan Voice has Shia links. Earlier, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had issued a statement on Twitter denying involvement.
The attack, the latest in a series to hit Afghan media groups in recent years, follows an attack on a private television station in Kabul last month.
“This gruesome attack underscores the dangers faced by Afghan civilians,” rights group Amnesty International said in a statement from its South Asia Director, Biraj Patnaik. “In one of the deadliest years on record, journalists and other civilians continue to be ruthlessly targeted by armed groups.”
According to a report this month by media freedom group Reporters without Borders, Afghanistan is among the world’s most dangerous countries for media workers with two journalists and five media assistants killed doing their jobs in 2017, before the December 28 attack
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