Afghanistan Suicide Bombing: Deadly Blast Kills 89 Civilians, Injures 42
Afghanistan suffered from one of the deadliest attacks in its country in years when a suicide car bomber killed 89 people on Tuesday.
The incident occurred when the bomber detonated explosives inside of a vehicle near a packed market and mosque in the Urgun district of Paktika province.
In addition to the 89 deaths, 42 other people were injured and about 20 shops were destroyed, reports USA Today.
Afghan Ministry of Defense spokesman Gen. Zahir Azizmi confirmed to CBS News that the bodies of at least 89 victims had been recovered. They were all reportedly civilians. He added that an Afghan Army battalion, two helicopters and several ambulances arrived on the scene to transport the dozens of victims who were injured in the attack to the provincial capital, Sharan.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Instead, the Afghan Taliban released a statement to the media giving condolences to the victims' families and announcing that it was not behind the attack.
Also on Tuesday, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a roadside bomb that blew up a minivan carrying employees of the presidential palace in eastern Kabul and killed two passengers, said Afghan officials.
Last week, Afghanistan presidential contender Abdullah Abdullah claimed victory in spite of initial election results that calculated his rival, Ashraf Ghani, in the lead.
Preliminary results released by the Afghan Independent Election Commission revealed that Ghani is in the lead with 56.4 percent of the vote, while Abdullah has 43.5 percent of the vote.
Nevertheless, Abdullah addressed thousands of angry supporters stating that election fraud is the reason why Ghani is ahead. He also threatened to declare his own government, but, at the same time, urged his supporters to give him time to negotiate.
"We are proud, we respect the votes of the people, we were the winner," said Abdullah in the Afghan capital of Kabul, reports France 24. "We will not accept a fraudulent result -- not today, not tomorrow, never."
The Afghan politician asked the rowdy crowd to remain calm while he comes to a decision, and rejected the notion of a civil war. Instead, he stressed for a unified country.
"We don't want partition of Afghanistan, we want to preserve national unity and the dignity of Afghanistan," he said. "We don't want civil war, we don't want a crisis. We want stability, national unity, not division."
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