This attack was claimed by the Islamic State organization. It intervenes in the aftermath of another attack having killed around fifty people in a Sunni mosque in the capital.
Le Monde with Reuters
At least one person was killed and three others were injured on Saturday April 30, in the explosion that hit a minibus in Kabul, the authorities announced. The Islamic State (IS) group claimed the attack in a message published on Saturday on a Telegram account used to disseminate its propaganda.
“A woman was killed (Saturday) and three other people were injured,” the Khalid Zadran, spokesperson for Kabul commander, told Reuters. This is the second bomb attack in two days in the Afghan capital after the one who killed around fifty people on Friday in a Sunni mosque in the capital. The authorities feared a revival of violence on the occasion of Eid-el-Fitr, the festival of the break of the fast, which marks the end of Ramadan.
A witness to the explosion, Ali Maisam, 19, who was standing in front of a nearby bakery, said he saw several bodies. “I saw people get out of the minibus with the burned and bloody face. (…) I saw that four bodies were removed, I saw a woman among the victims,” he said.
Taliban authorities announced on Saturday that Eid El-Fitr would be celebrated on Sunday. They also tried to appease fears of the population concerning security before the party.
resurgence of attacks
Security had first improved in Afghanistan after the Taliban’s return to power, in August, even if the Islamic State in Khorassan (IS-K), the regional branch of IS, continued to lead deadly attacks. But the frequency of the attacks has increased a lot in April, in particular targeting the Hazara Shiite minority, considered heretical by the jihadists of IS.
The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres “firmly condemned” on Saturday “the murderous attack” occurring the day before against the Khalifa Saib mosque. “Attacks on civilians and civilian goods, including mosques, are strictly prohibited by international humanitarian law,” he said in a statement.
In a separate press release, the members of the UN Security Council condemned “in the strongest terms the continuation of odious terrorist attacks targeting civilians in Afghanistan”.
Thursday, bomb attacks, claimed by IS, against two minibuses carrying Shiite passengers, had left at least nine dead in Mazar-E Charif (North). On April 21, a Shiite mosque of this city had also been the target of a bomb. At least twelve people had been killed and 58 wounded, and again IS had claimed the attack.
The next day, at least 36 people, including children, were killed in another bomb attack against a Sunni mosque frequented by Sufis during Friday prayer in Kunduz (northeast). A few days earlier, explosions in a school for boys from a Shiite district of Kabul had left six dead.