Kabul attacks show depth of Daesh depravity, Iranian FM tweets

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Saturday deadly bomb attacks in Kabul are an example of the depravity of the Daesh terrorist group.

Zarif made the remark on his official twitter account late on Saturday, adding that Shias and Sunnis must unite against the extremists.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry has also issued a statement condemning the Kabul attacks and offering condolences to the families of the victims.

Terrorism, extremism, and endangering innocent people’s lives are and have always been a terrible and unexplainable act, said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi.

“As we have always said, uprooting terrorism is not possible without cooperation and mutual understanding among all the world’s countries,” added Qassemi.

Earlier, twin blasts targeted a street demonstration in Kabul where thousands of Shia Hazara demonstrators had gathered from early in the morning in protest against a controversial power line project.

An Afghan protester screams near the scene of a bomb attack that targeted crowds of minority Shia Hazaras during a demonstration in Kabul on July 23, 2016. (AFP)

According to Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry 83 people were killed and 260 more injured in the attacks claimed by Daesh.

The Hazara community, the poorest of Afghanistan’s ethnic groups, accounts for about nine percent of Afghanistan’s population, and is the country’s third-largest minority.

Afghan riot police stand guard as protesters shout anti-government slogans during a demonstration in Kabul on July 23, 2016. (AFP)

Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani also condemned the bombings and said he was “deeply saddened” by the terrorist attack.

“Opportunist terrorists went among the protesters and set off explosions that killed and wounded a number of our countrymen including security and defense personnel,” he said. “Peaceful protest is the right of every citizen.”