Move FM Global News

KABUL, Afghanistan – Continuing its deadly onslaught in Afghanistan, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for two deadly suicide bombings that struck Kabul on Wednesday.

The double suicide bombing left at least 20 people dead and several others injured in the Dasht-e-Barchi area, located in the western part of Kabul. 

Officials said on Wednesday that the first suicide bombing, which took place at a wrestling club in the area that houses members of the mainly Shi’ite Muslim Hazara ethnic minority, killed four people and left 18 others injured. 

Then, a short while later, a second suicide bombing struck the same area.

It was believed to have targeted emergency services and journalists that had gathered at the site.

After the second suicide attack, officials said that at least 20 people had died and over 70 others were injured.

The Taliban immediately issued a statement denying any involvement in the twin attacks.

Later in the day, the Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attack – that was said to have been similar to previous attacks carried out by the terrorist organization in the Afghanistan.

In its most recent attack, which took place last month, the Islamic State struck the Mawoud Academy in west Kabul’s Dasht-e-Barchi area.

The attack left 48 people dead and over 67 others injured and most of the victims in the attack were students preparing for a university entrance examination. 

Like Wednesday’s attack, the Dasht-e-Barchi area, which suffered the ISIS attack last month, houses many of the members of the city’s mainly Shi’ite Hazara community.

The Sunni militants of Islamic State had repeatedly attacked areas housing Shi’ite Muslims in the country. 

Amid an intensifying war against Taliban insurgents in the country, war-torn Afghanistan is now facing deadly assaults by Islamic State that has launched attacks on a bigger scale targeting large crowds to future their agenda of terrorizing the country.

On Wednesday, local reports in Afghanistan broadcast gory scenes from the site of the attack, where some people were seen in clothes that were torn due to the impact of the blast, as they scrambled alongside the police and emergency officials, to help those injured in the two suicide bombings. 

Later, the police told reporters that a preliminary investigation had revealed that the second blast took place from a car parked outside the sports club that suffers the first attack.

According to reports, the second suicide bombing struck the area where journalists had gathered. 

Moments after a two-man crew from Afghanistan’s Tolo News minutes had completed a live report from the scene, the suicide bomber detonated his explosives, killing both the reporter and the cameraman from the local broadcaster.

Reports also noted that four other local television crew were injured.

Meanwhile, the twin bombing comes a little over a week after the U.S. and Afghan governments declared that a targetted airstrike had killed the leader of ISIS in Afghanistan.  

Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security officially declared last month that the group’s leader Abu Saad Erhabi, and ten other ISIS militants had been killed in the joint ground and air operation by Afghan and foreign forces.

Abu Saad Erhabi AKA Abu Sayeed Orakzai – who was the fourth leader of the local affiliate of Islamic State, sometimes known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) was reported to have been killed in the operation.

Wednesday’s attack also also comes merely a month before the country is set to hold the crucial elections.