Kabul: 57 dead in voter registration office suicide blast

Monitoring Desk

KABUL: At least 57 people were killed and about 119 more wounded in a suicide attack targeting a center for distribution of national identity cards in Qilla Nazar area in Dasht-e-Burchi Phus in Kabul city on Sunday (April 22).

A suicide bomber targeted a center for distribution of national identity cards in Qilla Nazar area in the sixth security zone of Kabul city at around 10 am, killing and injuring dozens of people, interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish told Afghan Islamic Press (AIP).

The dead and injured included women and children, he added.

Meanwhile, public health ministry spokesman Waheed Majrooh said more than 57 people were killed and 119 more injured in the bombing. The dead included 22 women and five children, he said.

The injured including 52 women and 17 children were taken to various hospitals in Kabul, he added.

According to Afghan officials, the dead and injured were civilians who were collecting their national identity cards from the center.

A voter registration facility also existed in the area.

President Muhammad Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah, former president Hamid Karzai and others condemned the bombing.

According to a presidential office press release available with Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) President Ghani condemned the suicide attack.

“The terrorists, who do not believe in any Islamic, national and democratic norms, should realize that by doing such crimes they could not damage the determination of our people to openly participate in democratic processes.

The media center of Islamic State or Daesh, Amaq claimed responsibility for the attack by releasing a brief statement on internet.

On the other side, Taliban said they were not involved in the incident.

It is pertinent to mention here that six persons were killed and 10 more injured when explosives went off under a car outside a voter registration center in Baghlan’s capital Pule Khumri city today.

The presidential office condemned the bombing. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast so far.