Blast kills at least 61 during protest in Kabul

Terrorist attack in Kabul

KABUL — At least 61 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in an explosion during a massive protest in the Afghan capital on Saturday, according to officials and witnesses quoted by the Associated Press.

The Islamic State’s press branch claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place in a Kabul square packed with thousands of protesters only few miles away from presidential palace, media reports said.

The victims and marchers were almost all ethnic Hazara Shiites, considered by the Sunni radical Islamic State to be infidels. It was not immediately clear how the blast happened. Some witnesses attributed it to explosives hidden in an ice cream cart, while others believed a suicide bomber blew himself up among the crowd.

By Sayed Salahuddin