Funerals begin for victims of Kabul suicide bomb attack on peaceful demonstration

Islamic Extremism

Funerals begin for victims of Kabul suicide bomb attack on peaceful demonstration

Bereaved families on Sunday began burying those who died in a suicide bomb attack on a peaceful demonstration in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

CCTV’s Catherine James reports from Kabul.
Follow Catherine James on Twitter @cathjam

At least 80 people were killed on Saturday afternoon in a bomb attack on a march by members of the ethnic Hazara community, who were predominantly Shiite Muslims.

The attack was claimed by ISIL.

Many people chose to bury their dead together with others – rather than in traditional family plots – encouraged by organizers of the Saturday demonstration, who call themselves the Enlighten Movement.

In a hilltop graveyard in the Surkh Abad suburb of south-western Kabul, hundreds of people, most of them men, conducted the Shiite funeral rites.

Hazaras account for up to 15 percent of Afghanistan’s population, estimated at around 30 million, and say they face discrimination.

Story from The Associated Press.