adminThe attack yesterday occurred when a man detonated explosives that he was carrying outside a mosque in Maymana, the capital of Faryab province.
Witnesses say the attacker was wearing a police uniform as he passed through four security checkpoints.
He blew himself up at the entrance to the city’s packed Eid Gah mosque, deputy provincial governor Abdul Satar Barez said.
“Our latest death toll shows 41 deaths, and that might rise,” he said.
“Nineteen were members of the security forces, including police, army and intelligence agents. Seventeen were civilians and five children are also among the dead.”
Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from Kabul, said the 41 victims were a mixture of civilians and members of the Afghan National Security Forces. The bulk of those killed were outside the mosque at the time of the attack.
“It appears the target was military and security force members,” said our correspondent.
The provincial police chief sustained some injury.
Barez, like many other provincial officials, was at the scene at the time of the bombing and described the horror of the blast in the midst of a religious celebration.
“We had just finished Eid al-Adha prayers and we were congratulating and hugging each other,” Barez said.
“Suddenly a big explosion took place and the area was full of dust and smoke and body parts of police and civilians were all over the place. It was a very powerful explosion.”
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
One eyewitness, Sayed Moqeed, described the bomber as appearing to be in his early teens.
“Suddenly I heard a very big explosion,” he said. “Everywhere were pieces of bodies, hands and limbs. The suicide attacker was in police uniform, he looked to be around 14 or 15 years old.”
The attack comes on the first of the three-day Eid al-Adha holiday in Afghanistan.
Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, strongly condemned the attack, calling the perpetrators “the enemies of Islam and humanity”.
“Those who take the happiness of Muslims during Eid days cannot be called human and Muslim,” he said.
The United States embassy in Kabul also “strongly” condemned the attack saying: “this attack against innocent worshippers further demonstrates the insurgency’s lack of respect for religion, faith and its disregard for the safety and security of the Afghan people . . . Our sympathies go out to those affected by today’s bombing, and we wish a speedy recovery to the wounded”.
Northern Afghanistan is relatively peaceful, with the Taliban, who were ousted from power in a US-led invasion in 2001, concentrating their operations in the south and east of the country. Faryab, in the north-west, had also been mostly peaceful.
Last week an Afghan special forces operation killed the Taliban’s shadow governor in the province. Over 20 fighters were also killed in the attack.
Sediq Sediqqi, Afghan ministry of interior spokesman, called that operation “very successful” and cited it as a possible basis for yesterday’s attack.
Recently tribal elders seen as supporting the government have been killed by the Taliban in Faryab. The United Nations says 1 145 civilians were killed in the war in the first six months of this year, blaming 80 per cent of the deaths on insurgents. Last year as a whole, a record 3 021 civilians died in the war, according to UN figures.
Meanwhile, Fierce clashes between Syrian government forces and rebels have broken out in several regions across the country, in violation of a ceasefire, an activist group said.
“The ceasefire has collapsed in several regions of Syria but there is stillless violence and fewer victims than usual,” Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director, said yesterday.
The fighting started around a military base near Maaret al-Numan, a strategic opposition-held town in the country’s north.
“Violent clashes started around 7.30 around the Wadi Deif base. The army responded by bombing the neighbouring village of Deir Sharqi. It is the first violation of the ceasefire,” Abdul Rahman said.
He said that among the rebel fighters were members of the Islamist Al-Nusra Front, an armed group that had already indicated it would not abide by the truce, agreed by President Bashar al-Assad’s government and the main rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) for the four-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Fighting also reportedly took place in the capital Damascus, in the city of Homs and Aleppo province.
There were no immediate indications from either the regime or the FSA that they considered the ceasefire had been violated.
Meanwhile, anti-regime protests erupted across Syria yesterday, activists said. The protests after morning prayers to mark the start of Eid al-Adha came as the ceasefire took effect.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said protests had taken place in the northeastern city of al-Raqqa, where security forces fired teargas, and in the southern Deraa province, where three people were injured as police fired live rounds to disperse demonstrators.
Activists said demonstrations also took place in the capital Damascus and its suburbs, in the country’s largest city of Aleppo, the eastern province of Deir Ezzor and in the north-western province of Idlib.
In the village of Al-Habit in Idlib province, protesters chanted against al-Assad: “Traitor, give up, you have destroyed Syria”.
In the Deraa provincial town of Dael, about 100 demonstrators were seen chanting anti-regime slogans on the main square, in a video activists posted on the Internet.
Meanwhile President Jacob Zuma has sent well wishes to the Muslim community celebrating Eid-ul-Adha yesterday.
“As you offer your sacrifices, during this spiritual time I wish that the Almighty answers your prayers and fulfils all your dreams on this Eid-ul-Adha and always,” the presidency said in a statement.
Muslims use the holiday to reflect on the year along with its challenges, and to also give thanks. — Sapa
Online Reporter