Bomb blast kills 1, wounds 11 in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul 

People gather to check on missing relatives a day after a twin suicide bombs attack, which killed scores of people including 13 US troops outside Kabul airport, at a hospital run by Italian NGO Emergency in Kabul on August 27, 2021. (AFP/File)
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Updated 12 August 2024
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Bomb blast kills 1, wounds 11 in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul 

  • Blast went off on a minibus in western Kabul neighborhood home to many Shia Muslims 
  • There was no immediate claim of responsibility for bombing by any militant group 

KABUL: A bomb blast on a minibus in a religious-minority neighborhood of Afghanistan’s capital killed one person and wounded 11 others on Sunday, a Kabul police spokesman said.

The blast went off in a western Kabul neighborhood home to many Shia Muslims — a historically persecuted minority in Afghanistan and a frequent target of the Daesh group, which considers them heretics.

“An IED (improvised explosive device) was planted on a minibus in the Dasht-e-Barchi area,” Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said in a statement, adding an investigation was underway.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing, which took place around 4 p.m. (1130 GMT).

While the number of deadly bomb blasts and suicide attacks in Afghanistan has markedly declined since the Taliban ended their insurgency after seizing power in August 2021, a number of armed groups, including IS, remain a threat. 


Turkmenistan’s president to visit EU for talks on energy, EU ambassador says 

Updated 6 sec ago
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Turkmenistan’s president to visit EU for talks on energy, EU ambassador says 

  • Turkmenistan has the world’s fourth largest gas reserves

ASHGABAT: Turkmenistan’s president is preparing to make an official visit to Brussels as the European Parliament discusses ratification of a long-stalled partnership agreement with the Central Asian state, the European Union’s ambassador ⁠to Ashgabat said ⁠on Tuesday.
Speaking at a joint briefing with Turkmenistan’s deputy foreign minister, Myahri Byashimova, EU ⁠ambassador Beata Peksa said that though a date for President Serdar Berdymukhamedov’s visit had not yet been agreed, the agenda was expected to address energy issues.
Turkmenistan, a mostly desert ⁠country ⁠of 7 million, has the world’s fourth largest gas reserves, and is looking to diversify its export markets. Most Turkmen gas currently goes to China.