By Khwaja Basir Ahmad Fitri
Claiming that the Shah Shaheed incident was not suicide bombing but an airstrike, dozens of protesters on Monday demanded the government thoroughly investigate the carnage and inform the nation about its findings.
However, earlier security forces said the incident took place due to vehicle bombing in the locality. Some media outlets also released CCTV footages, showing an explosive-laden truck exploded in the area.
At least 15 civilians were killed and nearly 500 wounded in the widely condemned blast. A market has also been destroyed and hundreds of houses damaged.
Around 200 residents of the area along with some wounded held big protest demonstration near the third road of Shah Shaheed against the attack.
Mohammad Zahir, a protester, claimed the Friday’s night explosion was as a result of airstrike by foreign forces, not a bomb blast.
He claimed when foreign forces wanted to bomb an area, first they severed the local communications network, which was what happened in Shah Shaheed locality as well.
He urged the president to thoroughly investigate and find out what caused the explosion.
He said the government wanted to pay 100,000 afghanis for the families who lost a member or relative and 50,000 afghanis for wounded, but they refused since they did not want to sell the blood of their relatives.
Naqibullah, another protester, alleged that some security officials were aware of the attack and thought it was the Presidential Palace that was the target. He slammed security officials for not preventing the incident despite knowing it would occur.
The protesters warned to continue their demonstrations if the government did not thoroughly investigate the incident.
Aug. 10, 2015: Most families in the area have lost several members and have several injured. Due to the destruction of the houses, they have spent the past nights in the open. (Photo: Hambastagi.org)
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Aug. 10, 2015: The protestors claimed that the number of dead is higher than 100. (Photo: Hambastagi.org)
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Aug. 10, 2015: All the people in the area claim that the blast was not a car bomb as there are no remains of the car and that they heard a plane before the blast occured. (Photo: Hambastagi.org)
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Aug. 10, 2015: The protestors stated that when the attack occured that night, the police shot at any one who tried to get close to the crater formed by the blast. (Photo: Hambastagi.org)
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Aug. 10, 2015: Instead of investigating the attack, the governmnet has buiit huge concrete walls around the crater to prevent people from going on the other side. Machines on the other side are filling the pit to hide all the evidence of the attack. (Photo: Hambastagi.org)
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Aug. 10, 2015: Abdullah and Massoud, two brothers killed in the attack. (Photo: Hambastagi.org)
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Aug. 10, 2015: The people showed remains of the weapon that was fired at them which they had collected in the first hours of the attack but the police quickly stopped them from doing so. (Photo: Hambastagi.org)
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Aug. 10, 2015: Tens of police swarmed the area and quickly dispersed the protest. (Photo: Hambastagi.org)
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