Justice
What We Know About the Attack in Kabul
July 23rd 2016
By:
At least 80 people are dead and 231 others are injured after two suicide bombers attacked protestors marching in Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday.
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, The Associated Press reports.
This marks the first ISIS-related attack to strike Kabul, and it ranks among the deadliest in the country since the Taliban insurgency in 2001.
Here's what we know.
- Members of Afghanistan's ethnic Hazara minority, which consists of mostly Shiite Muslims, were attacked while demonstrating in the capital on Saturday.
- The Islamic State considers Shiite Muslims apostates — individuals who abandon their religion — and claimed responsibility for the attack.
- Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called for a day of mourning in response to the attack. "I promise you, I will take revenge against the culprits," Ghani said during a live televised address Saturday. "I have ordered the attorney general to set up a commission to investigate this incident."
- The Hazara protesters were calling for a multi-million-dollar regional electricity line to be rerouted through their region of the country.
- The president described the protests as "peaceful" in a statement. "Peaceful protest is the right of every citizen, but opportunist terrorists infiltrated the crowds and carried out the attack," Ghani said.