Casualties As Blast Rips Through Huge Kabul Protest
Umer Jamshaid Published July 23, 2016 | 04:07 PM
KABUL, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd july,2016) - An explosion ripped through an area of Kabul Saturday where hundreds people Hazaras were protesting over a power line, police said, with eyewitnesses reporting a number of casualties. Ambulances were struggling to reach the scene as authorities had overnight blocked key intersections with stacked shipping containers to prevent protesters from marching on the presidential palace. The nature of the blast was not immediately clear, Fraidoon Obaidi, chief of Kabul's Criminal Investigation Department, told AFP. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the blast, but it comes in the middle of the Taliban's annual summer offensive, which the insurgents are ramping up after a brief lull during the recent holy fasting month of Ramadan.
"I was in the crowd of protesters when a loud bang occurred nearby.
Many people have been killed or injured -- I am in deep shock," protest organiser Jawad Naji told AFP. The demonstrators had gathered to demand that a multi-million-dollar power line pass through their electricity-starved province of Bamiyan, one of the most deprived areas of Afghanistan with a large Hazara population. The 500-kilovolt TUTAP power line, which would connect the Central Asian nations of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan with electricity-hungry Afghanistan and Pakistan, was originally set to pass through the central province. But the government re-routed it through the mountainous Salang pass north of Kabul, saying the shorter route would speed up the project and save millions of Dollars.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
PM makes two more appointments in his team
Terrorists of Shangla suicide attack will be brought to justice: Interior Minist ..
Applications Open for 6th Cycle of Start-up Incubation under the National Expans ..
Join vivo's "Light it Up" Social Media Contest in Ramadan to Win vivo V30 5G
Pakistan v New Zealand T20I series: Tickets to go on sale from today
Currency Rate In Pakistan - Dollar, Euro, Pound, Riyal Rates On 29 March 2024
Today Gold Rate in Pakistan 29 March 2024
Journalists call for global action to end Gaza’s humanitarian crisis
CM for generating opportunities to bring direct int'l investment
Pakistan retains position in FTSE secondary emerging market
High Commissioner of Malaysia hosts Iftar dinner reception
NEPRA announces 2nd quarterly adjustment in power bills with Rs 1.68 cut per uni ..
More Stories From World
-
Calls for 'smartphone free' childhood grow in UK
12 minutes ago -
Russia hits Ukraine energy sector in overnight attack
12 minutes ago -
A-bomb saga 'Oppenheimer' finally opens in Japan
22 minutes ago -
Titian's masterpiece "Flora" breathes vibrancy into Sino-Italian art exchange
32 minutes ago -
Beijing International Film Festival to open mid-April
32 minutes ago -
China's overnight Shibor interbank rate decreases Friday
42 minutes ago
-
Tokyo stocks end higher tracking Wall Street gains
52 minutes ago -
Boao forum urges global cooperation in energy transition
52 minutes ago -
China to export homegrown tunnel-boring machine to Italy
52 minutes ago -
Over 9 pct of Mongolia's livestock die in cold winter
52 minutes ago -
ChiNext Index closes higher Friday
52 minutes ago -
Ukraine says downed 84 of 99 Russian missiles, drones launched overnight
1 hour ago