Kabul: Suicide bomber targets protesters demanding security

Six people were killed and 20 others wounded in the capital city amid renewed violence in recent months.Ariana News Agency– At least six people have been killed and 20 others wounded after a suicide bomber hit a protest site in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, officials said.

The blast on Monday took place close to the city’s Pashtunistan Square, where hundreds of people had been protesting over insecurity in the country, Aljazeerah reported.

Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for the interior ministry, said, “The suicide attacker on foot wanted to target protesters, but he was stopped at a security checkpoint some 200 metres from the site.”

“There have been casualties and I can say most of them are security forces.”

Twenty people were wounded in the blast, which struck in front of a high school in downtown Kabul, according to Najib Danish, an interior ministry spokesman.

Videos posted on social media appeared to show bodies lying on the ground moments after the bombing, but could not be verified by Al Jazeera.

The explosion came as additional security was rolled out across Kabul for the protest, which began on Sunday night and continued into Monday.
Hundreds from the ethnic Shia-Hazara community had gathered to demand action against ongoing Taliban assaults in three districts of central Afghanistan. According to Danish, the rally had ended before the explosion.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (also known as ISIL or ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack on its website, Amaq.

The group has claimed responsibility for most of the suicide attacks in Kabul in recent months.