Kabul bombing: Death toll rises to 50

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan

The death toll from Thursday’s suicide attack in the Afghan capital Kabul has reached 50, an official from Interior Ministry said on Saturday.

The Daesh-claimed attack at a facility hosting a cultural center and news agency in the Afghan capital has also left over 80 people wounded.

Most of the victims are civilians, young boys and girls who had gathered for a social gathering at the Tebyan Cultural Center.

Two days after the attack, the Isteqlal Public Hospital -- where most of the victims are under treatment -- remained the site of tragic scenes with so many men, women and children anxiously observing treatment of their relatives and loved ones.

Dr. Mohibullah Zeer, Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) official, told Anadolu Agency the state of at least three more victims is critical.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in lower house of the parliament on Saturday lashed out at the government for failing to curb the surging Daesh terrorist threats.

Sidiqa Mubarez, a lawmaker, said on the occasion the government has no excuse left. “All ministers (Minister for Interior and Minister for Defense) have been given the vote of confidence, and now their excuse of lack of vote of confidence is no more valid”.

Ghulam Hussain Nasiri, another member of the parliament, warned of the severe consequences if such attacks continued to reoccur. “If the people are compelled to take measures for their own security, it would mean there is no legitimacy of the government”.

According to local broadcaster Tolo News, the cultural center -- Tebyan -- had links to Iran.

The Afghan Voice Agency founded in Mashhad, Iran, two decades ago, has been operating its Kabul office since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001.

Daesh-linked Amaq News Agency claimed responsibility for the attack. It said the target was a ‘major pro-Iran center in Afghanistan where Afghans were taught by the Iranians’.

The Afghan Shia-Hazara community has been on the hit list of the pro-Daesh militants for their alleged role in fighting along the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Syria and Iraq against the terrorist group.
The group has claimed a number of similar attacks on Shia mosques in the Afghan capital.