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Pakistan-based group claims role in deadly blast in Kabul

Adnan Faruqi

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Pakistan-based group claims role in deadly blast in Kabul

By Ernesto Londoño, Published: December 6

KABUL — A suicide attack here that left dozens of Shiite worshipers dead was apparently conducted by a militant group with a history of ties to Pakistan’s main intelligence service, a connection that threatened to escalate tensions in Afghanistan just as the United States plans its exit.

The bombing and a second attack on Shiites in northern Afghanistan left at least 60 people dead, making Tuesday one of the deadliest days for civilians in the decade-long war. The strikes were highly unusual because they targeted members of Afghanistan’s Shiite minority, which was persecuted during the Taliban’s reign but which has not been a focus of insurgent bombings since the Taliban fell in 2001.

The Taliban denied any role in Tuesday’s attacks. But a spokesman for the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi called a station operated by Radio Free Europe to assert responsibility. If the claim is true, it would mark the first time that the group, which has ties to al-Qaeda, has carried out a major attack in Afghanistan.

Lashkar-i-Jhangvi militants have systematically assassinated Shiites and attacked their religious gatherings in Pakistan. If the group is extending operations into Afghanistan, it could add a highly destabilizing sectarian dimension to the costly and protracted Afghan war.

The attack could also worsen the already thorny relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Afghan government and U.S. officials have accused elements of Pakistan’s Inter-
Services Intelligence directorate (ISI) of helping to execute attacks in Afghanistan, including several recent high-profile strikes in Kabul.

The ISI has supported Lashkar-i-Jhangvi
in the past, though it is not known whether the organizations maintain ties. Pakistan has denied any role in attacks in Afghanistan.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been especially rocky in recent weeks, with Pakistan boycotting on Monday an international conference on the future of Afghanistan after a NATO airstrike last month killed 24 Pakistani troops.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was in Germany to attend the conference, condemned the attacks and offered condolences to relatives of those killed.

“This is the act of enemies of Islam and Afghanistan who don’t want Afghan Muslims to live together and to be united,” he said in a statement. Karzai later canceled plans for a trip to Britain and flew back to Afghanistan.

Tuesday’s noontime attack in downtown Kabul was carried out by a suicide bomber who approached the Abul Fazal Abbas shrine in the Murad Khani district on foot as worshipers were streaming in, authorities and witnesses said. The blast killed at least 56 people, said Gen. Mohammad Zahir, director of criminal investigations for the Kabul police department. The attack occurred during Ashura commemorations, the holiest occasion of the year for Shiites.

Shortly afterward, explosives attached to a bicycle killed four Shiite pilgrims in the northern city of Mazar-e Sharif. That bombing sparked clashes between Sunni and Shiite university students, witnesses and security officials said.

Dozens dead in rare attack on Shiite mosque in Kabul - The Washington Post
 
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This is what the Afghan interior ministry have to say:

Afghan attacks Taliban, not sectarian, says interior ministry

Two attacks apparently targeting Shia Muslims have killed at least 58 people in Afghanistan.

In the deadliest incident, a suicide bomb struck a shrine in Kabul, while another blast struck near a Shia mosque in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

But Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman, Sadiq Saddiqi, said he believed the attacks were not sectarian.

He told BBC News he thought the Taliban were responsible for the attacks.


A Taliban statement said the group had not been behind either incident.

BBC News - Afghan attacks Taliban, not sectarian, says interior ministry
 
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Roflz............ i dont ever think that there is a joke corner also on PDF but thnx alot to poster who correct me dat m wrong........ kidco go and first check the group either its afghan aur ahem ahem indian
 
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Following link from The Washington Post (Neutral source) says: "Karzai accuses Pakistan of supporting terrorists"

Karzai accuses Pakistan of supporting terrorists - The Washington Post

Hamid Karzai accuses Pakistan of stalling talks with Taliban - The Times of India


Do u believe that??????? if not then why this cherry picking????????

You can't have double standards you should believe them or not but no cherry picking plz.
 
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Following link from The Washington Post (Neutral source) says: "Karzai accuses Pakistan of supporting terrorists"

Karzai accuses Pakistan of supporting terrorists - The Washington Post

Hamid Karzai accuses Pakistan of stalling talks with Taliban - The Times of India


Do u believe that??????? if not then why this cherry picking????????

You can't have double standards you should believe them or not but no cherry picking plz.

The links you have posted have nothing to do with the 12/6 Kabul attacks.
 
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And look how carefully he highlighted certain parts which right after become common. Nice try Mr. "Faruqi" lol
Somebody close this thread.
 
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it is absolutely incredible how afghan officials claim there was never sectarian bombings or attacks in Afghanistan.....do they care to explain then why Hazaras (predominantly Shiia) have been at the receiving end of attacks (physical and psyhchological) for the past several decades now???

they claim that the bomber was from Sipahe Sahaba Pakistan and hailed from Kurram (which itself has always been a flashpoint area for occasional outbreak of sectarianism). Where is their proof of that, the same day of the blast?


there are plenty of sectarian groups and other hate groups in Afghanistan; why would SeS attack Afghan Shiias when they can attack Pakistani Shiias instead (which is what they do from time to time)


to them, a Shiia is a Shiia doesnt matter nationality; they consider Shiias as non-Muslim.




you have to take the statements of these afghan officials with more than just a grain of salt.....they try time and time again to hide their abysmal failures at home --kind of like the NATO forces who are keeping them alive on life-support, despite their utter incompetence at governance or establishing any writ outside of Kabul fortress city.

---------- Post added at 01:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:50 PM ----------

by condemning the incident, I'm assuming talebs have no involvement

they usually like to own their actions; even if exaggerated......I dont think it was Afghan taleban that was involved.
 
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so cat is out of bag,it could be revenge taken by pakistan for killing 24 soldiers
 
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The media is coming up with stuff like "rare/unprecedented attack", & playing up Taliban's alleged denial, as if the Taliban could not be responsible for such an attack. Even the Afghan interior ministry says the Taliban was behind this attack.

Even if the LeJ al Almi is based in Pakistan's tribal areas, it is not possible for them to conduct such coordinated attacks deep inside Afghan territory without getting caught, scattered from Eastern Afghanistan, Northern Afghanistan & Southern Afghanistan, simultaneously. They do not have any (real) presence in Afghanistan anyways. It would be difficult for even the Taliban to pull this off. And even if the LeJ al Almi has a presence in Afghanistan, it plays second fiddle to the Al-Qaeda there, meaning it is more likely for the Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan to pull this off than LeJ al Almi.
 
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