ISIS claims responsibility for Kabul bombing with at least 80 dead
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing at a protest in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on Saturday. At least 80 people were killed in the attack and about 230 more were wounded, officials said.
The demonstration was primarily composed of the Shia Hazara minority; ISIS represents an extreme variant of Afghanistan's Sunni majority. The two sects have historically not experienced internecine strife in Afghanistan as they have elsewhere in the Mideast, including Iraq.
The Taliban condemned the incident, calling it an "act of making enmity among Afghan ethnicities" and denying all participation. If ISIS involvement is confirmed, it will be the first time the group has made a major strike in Afghanistan outside Nangarhar province.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.