An explosion early Thursday in Kabul targeting the Afghan Voice news agency and Tebyan cultural centre has killed 40 people and several wounded according to the ministry of the Interior.
People who gathered at the Tebyan centre were celebrating the 38th anniversary of Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. Among the victims of the blast were visitors, women and children.
Reports cite a suicide bomber who detonated the explosives. People in very critical condition are being rushed to the hospital and Afghans are volunteering blood for donations to help the wounded.
The Islamic State caliphate known also as ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack on their Amaq website even without providing any evidence to substantiate this claim.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issues a statement calling the attack a ”crime against humanity”. Goes further to say ”The terrorists have attacked our mosques, our holy places and now our cultural centre.”
Having targeted a media organ id important for it gives the caliphate the coverage it desperate needs. The media hasn’t been on their side in their previous attacks. The Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC) in their Twitter handle, condemned the attack ”in the strongest terms possible” while heading to give assistance to those wounded. The committee has recently reported an increase in attacks against journalists with a 35% increased compared to last year.
Have watched their ranks reduced in Iraq and Syria reduced by US-led coalition forces and Russia, the Islamic State could be announcing its foothold in Afghanistan as just last week, the Russians warned militants fighting for the group could seek refuge in offshoots hiding in Afghanistan.
It was only yesterday the US President Donald on his official Twitter account, retweet his accomplishment since taken office on how 35.000 fighters of the Islamic State since taking office on January 20, this year, has been reduced to 1000 in present-day.
Neba Benson,
BaretaNews Foreign Correspondent/Analyst
