KABUL - A suicide bomber blew himself up
in a banqueting hall where Islamic religious scholars had
gathered in the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday, killing more
than 50 people, three government officials said.
Najib Danish, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said
more than 80 other people had been injured.
"A suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside a wedding
hall where Islamic religious scholars had gathered to
commemorate the anniversary of the Prophet Mohammad's birth,"
Danish said.
The banquet room is in the Uranus wedding hall, a complex
housing several large reception rooms near Kabul airport.
"Hundreds of Islamic scholars and their followers had
gathered to recite verses from the holy Quran to observe the Eid
Milad-un-Nabi festival at the private banquet hall," said a
spokesman for Kabul police.
Officials at Kabul’s Emergency Hospital said 30 ambulances
had rushed to the scene and over 40 people were critically
wounded.
Both the Sunni Taliban militant group and a local Islamic
State affiliate have in the past attacked religious scholars
aligned with the government -- who have decreed that suicide
attacks are forbidden by Islam.
But the Taliban said in a statement that "our men were not
involved in the Kabul blast and we condemn the loss of human
lives".
The radical Sunni militant group Islamic State has mostly
focused its major attacks on Afghan soil on Shi'ite Muslim sites
of worship, regarding Shi'ites as heretics.
President Ashraf Ghani called Tuesday's attack "un-Islamic"
and "unforgivable". He declared Wednesday a day of mourning.
Afghan security forces have struggled to prevent attacks by
Islamist militants since most NATO combat troops withdrew in
2014.
Despite diplomatic efforts to end the 17-year war, in recent
months the security situation has deteriorated sharply.
The Kabul government now controls only 56% of Afghan
territory, down from 72% in 2015, according to a U.S.
government report issued this month.
- Additional reporting by Jibran Ahmed