A suicide bomber attacked a Shia Muslim shrine in central Kabul on Tuesday where a crowd of hundreds had gathered for the festival of Ashura, killing up to 20 people in what appeared to be an unprecedented sectarian attack.
Mohammad Zahir, head of Kabul’s Criminal Investigation Department, said he had counted up to 20 bodies at a Kabul hospital, and expected the toll to rise.
The noon bomb in a riverside shrine, in the heart of old Kabul, appears to set a grim new precedent.
Shortly after, a bicycle bomb exploded near the main mosque in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, killing four people and injuring 17 others.
The city’s streets were filled with people celebrating Ashura, but it was not immediately clear if that attack was also targeting Shia worshippers.