Two blasts hit Afghanistan capital Kabul on Monday killing 21 people, including a photographer of French news agency AFP. The Islamic State terror group has taken claim for the attacks.The AFP photographer, Shah Marai, was among a group of journalists caught in the second explosion as they were reporting on the initial blast.
Deadly attack at voter registration centre
The attacks came just a week after the blast at a voter registration centre that killed 60 people, in the wake of warnings by security officials against the risk of increasing attacks ahead of parliamentary elections planned in October.
Monday’s first explosion in the Shashdarak area close to buildings of the NDS intelligence service was followed by one outside the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, just as people were entering the government office.Four people were killed and five injured in the first explosion, said Najib Danish, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, adding that authorities had despatched ambulances to the incident sites.Soon after, the second explosion took place beside journalists who had gathered to cover the first blast, killing or wounding a number of photographers, Reuters witnesses said.
‘Brother took apostate security forces by surprise’
In a statement, the Islamic State said via its propaganda agency Amaq, that the first bomber hit the Kabul headquarters of Afghanistan’s intelligence services and security forces, with the second blast targeting journalists who had rushed to the scene.
The statement from IS’s “Khorasan” province, the group’s Afghan branch, said the first attacker “struck the headquarters of the Afghan intelligence services in Kabul.””Apostate security forces, media and other people rushed to the scene of the operation, where a brother took them by surprise and martyred himself with his explosives vest,” it added.It gave the name of the first bomber as “Kaaka al-Kurdi”, suggesting he was of Kurdish origin, and the second as Khalil al-Qurashi.
Reuters photographer hurt slightly
A Reuters photographer was slightly hurt by flying shrapnel.A spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health put the total toll at 21 dead and 27 injured.Taliban militants, fighting to restore their version of strict Islamic law to Afghanistan, announced their usual spring offensive last week and there has been heavy fighting in several areas of the country since.
Hundreds of people have been killed and wounded in a series of high profile attacks in Kabul since the beginning of the year, despite President Ashraf Ghani’s offer in February for peace talks “without preconditions.”
