Mar 7,2020:Dozens of people were killed when gunmen opened fire at a political rally in Kabul on Friday, the deadliest assault in Afghanistan since the US signed a withdrawal deal with the Taliban.
The attack, claimed by the Islamic State group, highlights a glaring lack of security in the Afghan capital just 14 months ahead of the scheduled withdrawal of all foreign forces.
It also calls into question a key element of the US-Taliban deal signed February 29 — whether the Taliban can stop jihadists such as IS from running amok in Afghanistan after US forces pull out.
In a statement, IS said two brothers had targeted a “gathering of apostates” with machine guns and grenades.
The gunmen inflicted devastating carnage at the crowded event in west Kabul, killing 32 people and wounding 58 others, health ministry spokesman Wahidullah Mayar told AFP.
Interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi put the toll at 29 dead, with an additional 61 wounded. He said special forces units eventually killed the two gunmen.
The assault occurred at a commemoration ceremony for Abdul Ali Mazari — a politician from the Hazara ethnic group, most of whom are Shiite Muslims.
The Sunni-extremist IS had claimed an attack on the same ceremony last year, when a barrage of mortar fire killed at least 11 people.
Rahimi said gunfire had erupted from a construction site near the event.
Several top political officials were at the ceremony, including Afghanistan’s chief executive Abdullah Abdullah.
The interior ministry later confirmed that all the high-ranking officials had been “safely evacuated.”
“We left the ceremony following the gunfire, and a number of people were wounded, but I do not have any reports of martyred people for now,” Hazara leader Mohammad Mohaqiq told Tolo News.
President Ashraf Ghani condemned the massacre as a “crime against humanity”.
