At least 41 people were killed and 84 were wounded yesterday in a suicide blast targeting Shiites in Kabul, officials said, with chaotic scenes at the city’s hospitals as anguished families sought loved ones.
The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the gruesome assault, which happened in the same building as the Afghan Voice Agency’s offices, a media outlet which earlier reports had suggested could have been the target.
Afghanistan Ministry of Interior Affairs deputy spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said the attack — the deadliest since a Shiite mosque bombing in October that killed more than 50 worshipers — was aimed at the Tabayan cultural center.
Photo: AFP
“The suicide attacker detonated himself during a gathering at Tabayan cultural center causing a lot of casualties,” Rahimi said.
The main explosion was followed by two smaller blasts as people were leaving the scene.
The gathering was organized to mark the 38th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Rahimi said.
Photo: Reuters
More than 100 people were at the event in the building’s basement, an Afghan Voice Agency journalist said.
There were chaotic scenes at Istiqlal Hospital where ambulances and police pickups brought victims, including women and children.
Many of them had suffered severe burns to their faces and bodies, as well as shrapnel wounds, reporters said.
Visibly distressed relatives searching for their loved ones inside the medical facility slapped their heads as they cried and cursed the government for being unable to end the regular carnage on their streets.
More than a dozen badly burned bodies lay on the floor in a room inside the hospital and wooden coffins were being delivered so families could take away the bodies of their loved ones, reporters said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique