Two killed in third deadly Kabul explosion in less than a week

Kabul – Two people were killed and 12 wounded in an explosion in western Kabul on Thursday, police said, in the third deadly blast to hit the Afghan capital in less than a week.

Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said a grenade was detonated outside a commercial centre in the Dasht-e-Barchi area, an enclave of the historically oppressed Shiite Hazara community. 

“The initial information shows that unfortunately two civilian compatriots were martyred and 12 others were wounded,” Zadran said in a statement.

By early evening the road in front of the centre was open but dozens of security personnel were still there and had blocked access to the site of the blast, AFP journalists saw. 

Italian non-governmental organisation Emergency, which operates a hospital in Kabul, said it was treating 13 patients wounded in the explosion, including two children and a teenaged boy. 

The blast is the second deadly explosion in the area in less than a week. 

On Saturday, a bomb planted on a bus that killed at least five people and wounded another 15 was claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, which considers Shiites heretics.

IS claimed responsibility for another blast days later in eastern Kabul, in which police said three people were killed and four wounded by a bomb hidden in a cart near a minivan.

The regional chapter of IS has targeted Shiites in particular, claiming multiple other attacks in Dasht-e-Barchi in recent months.

In November, at least seven people were killed in an explosion on a bus in Dasht-e-Barchi that was claimed by IS.

In late October, the group also claimed a deadly explosion in a sports club in the same neighbourhood.

The number of bomb blasts and suicide attacks in Afghanistan has declined since the Taliban ended their insurgency after seizing power in August 2021, ousting the US-backed government.

A number of armed groups — including IS — remain a threat, however.