Grieving Afghans yesterday buried their loved ones in Kabul amid growing anger over a suicide attack on a voter registration center in the city that killed at least 57 people, including children, and wounded more than 100, while the Taliban claimed responsibility for attacks in western Afghanistan that killed 14 soldiers and policemen.
The bomber blew himself up on Sunday morning in a large crowd lining up to collect their national ID certificates so they could register to vote in legislative elections scheduled for October.
The force of the blast, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, caused carnage in the street in the heavily Shiite-populated neighborhood.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Pools of blood and body parts mixed with shattered glass, blood-stained ID documents and passport-sized photographs on the ground.
Anguish turned to anger on social media as ordinary Afghans blamed the Kabul government for failing to protect its people — a constant refrain after such attacks.
“They [the government] arrests them and then releases them to kill innocent people,” Ahmad Ahmadi wrote on Facebook.
“This government is intentionally creating chaos to continue their term illegally,” another Facebook user called Aminullah posted. “The only way forward is to vote and get rid of this corrupt government.”
Funerals for some of the victims began hours after the attack on Sunday and more bodies were buried yesterday.
The attack was the latest in a series of assaults on voter registration centers nationwide, fueling concerns over the impact on participation in the upcoming parliamentary and district council elections.
Over the next two months, Afghan authorities hope to register up to 14 million adults at more than 7,000 polling centers for the parliamentary and district council elections.
Independent Election Commission spokesman Shafi Jalali said Sunday’s attack would not interrupt election preparations.
“We hold meetings with security forces almost every day and they have assured us that they will provide security for all voter registration centers,” Jalali said. “The process has not been interrupted and it will continue.”
Meanwhile, the first of yesterday’s near-simultaneous attacks in western Badghis Province hit army units in Ab Kamari District, killing nine soldiers, Deputy Provincial Police Chief Ghulam Sarwar Haidari said.
Moments later, another large group of insurgents hit in Qadis District, killing five policemen.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed the Badghis attacks in a statement to the media.
Additional reporting by AP
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not