Two bombs exploded in quick succession in separate locations in a west Kabul neighbourhood late Tuesday, killing at least six people and wounding seven others, an Afghan government spokesman said.
The bombings, both targeting minivans, happened in a mostly ethnic Hazara area of the capital, said deputy Interior Ministry spokesman Said Hamid Rushan.
The first of the two occurred near the home of a prominent Hazara leader, Mohammad Mohaqiq, and in front of a Shiite mosque. Most Hazaras are Shiites. The second explosion also targeted a minivan but Rushan said details were still being collected.
No one claimed responsibility for the explosions but the Islamic State group affiliate operating in Afghanistan has previously declared war on minority Shiites, who make up roughly 20 per cent of the majority Sunni Muslim nation of 36 million people.
On May 8, a car bomb and two roadside bombs exploded outside the Syed-al-Shahada girls school, also in a predominantly Hazara neighbourhood, killing nearly 90 people, many of them students. No one has yet claimed that attack but the U.S. blamed the Islamic State.
The attacks come as the United States wraps up its longest war by withdrawing the last of its 2,500-3,500 troops along with 7,000 allied NATO forces. The last soldiers are to be gone by Sept. 11 at the latest generating fears of increased chaos in a country already deeply insecure.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
