Afghanistan: 15 Killed Including Children In Blast At Religious Gathering

An alleged bomb blast at a religious gathering in Afghanistan’s Ghazni District has killed 15 people, including 11 children, and injured 20 others.
According to Reuters news agency, Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Aryan said that according to initial information, the bomb was placed on a motorised rickshaw.
Ghazni governor’s spokesman Wahidullah Jumazada said most of those killed in the blast were under 18.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Afghan government officials, social activists and journalists have blamed the Taliban for such bombings.
Small-scale bombings have killed at least 10 government officials in recent weeks, most of them in the capital, Kabul, according to the report.
According to TOLOnews, President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack and said that the Taliban should recognize the people’s demand for a ceasefire and refrain from terrorist attacks that are against humanity and Islam and accept the peace process. ‘
The British Embassy in Kabul strongly condemned the Ghazni attack in a statement.
“Unnecessary tensions have resulted in the loss of more innocent lives and those responsible must be brought to justice,” the British embassy said in a statement.
The Turkish embassy also condemned the attack, saying “we offer our condolences to the families of the victims and pray for the speedy recovery of the injured.”
Inter-Afghan talks between the government and the Taliban began in September this year to end the 19-year-old war in Afghanistan, but tensions have not abated and dozens of civilians are killed every day in bombings.
A bomb blast in Kabul December 15 killed the capital’s deputy governor, Mehboobullah Mohibi, along with his secretary.
The blast took place at 9:40 a.m. local time in the Macrorian IV area of Kabul’s PD-9, but no militant group has claimed responsibility for the blast.
An Afghan government prosecutor was shot dead on his way to work in Kabul last week.
A November 30 suicide car bombing at a military base in Afghanistan killed 30 security personnel.
Earlier, on November 21, several rocket attacks hit densely populated areas of the Afghan capital, Kabul, killing at least eight people.
The rockets landed in various parts of Kabul, including the highly sensitive Wazir Akbar Khan area and the new city.
A bomb blast near the opening of an Iranian book fair at Kabul University earlier this month killed at least 25 people and injured dozens more.