A suicide bomb struck a Kabul shrine, killing at least 54, while the other blast struck near a Shia mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif at about the same time.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has cancelled a visit to the UK to return to Afghanistan, after Tuesday`s deadly attacks in the capital, Kabul, and in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
The twin attacks apparently targeting Shia Muslims killed at least 58 people.
The twin attacks apparently targeting Shia Muslims killed at least 58 people.
Afghan police officers stand guard
A suicide bomber detonated a device at a Shiite shrine in Kabul, as worshippers were marking the Shiite holy day of Ashura, Afghan Health Ministry spokesman Kargar Norughli said. Fifty-six people were killed and 193 were wounded, Norughli added.
Four people were killed in an explosion at a roundabout on a busy street in Mazar-e Sharif, the provincial capital of Afghanistan's northern Balkh province, police official Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai said. Another 21 were wounded in that attack.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has canceled a visit to the UK to return home following Tuesday's deadly blasts in the capital, Kabul, and in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif.
Other source in London said Karzai had been due in London late Tuesday from Germany but was flying back to Afghanistan after the twin suicide attacks killed 60 people and wounded scores of others in the two cities.
"The first time that on such an important religious day in Afghanistan terrorism of that horrible nature is taking place".
Gen. John Allen, commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said the attack on the Ashura pilgrims "on one of the holiest of days in the Islamic calendar is an attack against Islam itself, and we denounce and condemn these atrocities in the strongest of terms.
Allen said."Our prayers and deepest sympathies are with the families and loved ones of those innocent civilians killed or injured in today's horrific attacks,"
A NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan called the attacks "horrifying."
"That men, women and children are killed and injured on Ashura is particularly tragic," he said.
The bomb which exploded near the main mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif was apparently strapped to a bicycle, and went off shortly after the Kabul blast.
Four people were killed and 17 injured in that attack.
Gen. John Allen, commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, said the attack on the Ashura pilgrims "on one of the holiest of days in the Islamic calendar is an attack against Islam itself, and we denounce and condemn these atrocities in the strongest of terms.
Allen said."Our prayers and deepest sympathies are with the families and loved ones of those innocent civilians killed or injured in today's horrific attacks,"
A NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan called the attacks "horrifying."
"That men, women and children are killed and injured on Ashura is particularly tragic," he said.
The bomb which exploded near the main mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif was apparently strapped to a bicycle, and went off shortly after the Kabul blast.
Four people were killed and 17 injured in that attack.
No comments:
Post a Comment