Kabul, Afghanistan. In the US occupied land of the Taliban and ISIS, even the dead get no rest, as a massive blast marred the funeral of the huge truck bomb blast on Wednesday.
18 Afghans were killed when three back-to-back blasts ripped through a funeral Saturday for one of the demonstrators killed during anti-government protests Friday. The people killed on a hill in the northern part of Kabul had not been identified. The public health ministry confirmed the casualties. Ministry spokesman Wahid Majroh said 87 people were wounded.
Afghani President Ashraf Ghani condemned the assault, calling it an “outrageous attack on mourners burying the martyred. The country is under attack,” Ghani said. “We must be strong and united.” Afghan chief executive Abdullah Abdullah and Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani were among those attending the funeral. They were reportedly safe.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Saturday’s blasts, which were suicide attacks. The resurgent Taliban said it was not involved in the assault. Friday’s protest was launched following a series of deadly attacks by insurgents, including one in Kabul that killed more than 100 people and wounded hundreds more Wednesday.
Friday’s protesters included several political figures and a key factional leader, Ahmad Zai Masood, whom President Ashraf Ghani fired from a top government job recently. They were demanding removal of Ghani’s shaky government and pushed for formation of an interim administration, to look at the American ongoing occupation of the nation.
The protesters chanted anti-American slogans, demanded execution of militant inmates and accused the government of being too lenient in demanding the removal of NATO and American occupation forces. President Trump is planning a deployment of 25,000-50,000 more American troops in Afghanistan soon.
The resurgent Taliban, with whom the government has been trying broker a peace deal, has denied involvement in Wednesday’s attack. The Afghan government has blamed it on the Haqqani network, which is seen as the operational wing of the Taliban.