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.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia
RSS