[ad_1]
A suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up near a convoy of armed men commemorating the anniversary of the death of a famous resistance leader in Kabul on Sunday, making the at least seven dead, officials said.
There was no immediate demand for responsibility for the latest deadly attack in the Afghan capital that took place days after a double attack on a wrestling club that killed at least 26 people.
At least seven people were killed and 24 wounded in the explosion, said the Interior Ministry in a statement. All the victims were civilians.
The force of the explosion broke the windows and shook neighboring buildings.
Among the dead was the driver of a car participating in the commemorations. He left the road and found himself at the front of a shop when the explosion occurred, witnesses told AFP.
Two of his passengers were injured, they said.
Afghan security forces said earlier they shot dead a man who was planning to blow himself up near Ahmad Shah Massoud's supporters.
The Tajik commander led a resistance to the Soviet occupation in the 1980s and to the Taliban regime of 1996-2001.
The attack took place as convoys of armed men terrorized Kabul as they commemorated the 17th anniversary of Massoud's death.
Massoud was killed two days before the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington, which precipitated the invasion of Afghanistan by the United States.
Dozens of cars and vans carrying men armed with heavy weapons and waving flags went around the city, deafening the sirens. AFP journalists have heard many shots.
At least 13 people were injured by bullets and taken to the hospital, Ministry of Health spokesman Waheed Majroh told reporters.
Police arrested 110 people and seized 20 cars and 10 weapons, said the Interior Ministry, as part of the crackdown on violent commemorations.
In addition, nearly 20 members of the Afghan security forces have been killed in fighting, adding to the hundreds of people killed in recent weeks.
Ten policemen were killed and eight others wounded during an hour-long shooting with Taliban fighters in Wardak province, near Kabul, told AFP spokesman Provincial Governor, Abdul Rahman Mangal.
"Airstrikes have been fired and more than 50 Taliban fighters have been killed" in the fighting in Daimirdad district, Mangal added.
On the other side of the country, Taliban fighters attacked a checkpoint in the Obe district, in Herat province, killing nine members of the security forces, told AFP the spokesman of the provincial governor, Jailani Farhad.
Five others were injured during the attack that ended when government-backed reinforcements were sent to the scene, Farhad said, adding that 15 insurgents had been killed.
– & # 39; Rule of Law & # 39; –
This bloodshed comes amid a diplomatic effort to convince the Taliban, Afghanistan's largest militant group, to agree to negotiate an end to the war.
The smaller but powerful Islamic State (IS) is not part of the process as the United States promises to annihilate their fighters in Afghanistan.
But the blatant anarchy of Sunday in the capital and the limited response of the security forces have further undermined confidence in the authorities.
In a storm of messages of anger on social media, Afghans, exhausted by the war, have expressed frustration at the ongoing violence and the government's inability to protect civilians.
"Why do people have to endure this every year on September 9th, why does the Afghan government allow it?" a social media user posted on Twitter.
"Where is the rule of law?" tweeted another.
A double attack against a wrestling club in a heavily Shiite neighborhood killed at least 26 people on Wednesday, including two journalists, and injured 91.
IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
The extremist group considers Shiite Muslim apostates and has intensified its attacks on the minority community in recent years.
On August 15, the last major Islamic Shield attack against Shiites in Kabul took place when a suicide bomber blew himself up in an education center and killed dozens of people. # 39; students.
strs-mam-emh-amj / rma
There was no immediate demand for accountability for the latest deadly attack in the Afghan capital
Map showing a suicide bombing in Kabul where a motorcyclist blew himself up near a group commemorating the death of resistance fighter Ahmad Shah Massoud.
The blatant illegality of Sunday in the capital and the limited response of the security forces have further undermined confidence in the authorities
