Afghan victims buried as fingers point to Pakistan

KABUL, (AFP) — Afghans are on Wednesday burying 59 people killed in unprecedented bombings against Shiite Muslims as officials blame Pakistani militants, accusing them of trying to whip up Iraq-style sectarian violence.

Investigators are trying to find out who was behind coordinated attacks in the Afghan capital Kabul and northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif that the Taliban, the main faction leading a 10-year insurgency, have denied carrying out.

Meanwhile, 19 Afghan civilians were killed on Wednesday by the latest roadside bombing to strike the country in the troubled southern province of Helmand.

An Afghan official claimed that the bomber who attacked a shrine in Kabul on Tuesday was a Pakistani, affiliated to Pakistan’s extremist Lashkar-i-Jhangvi group, which has been blamed for killing thousands of Pakistani Shiites.

The faction, which is linked to Al-Qaeda — the terror group blamed for igniting sectarian war in Iraq — has not previously claimed responsibility for any attacks in Pakistan’s neighbour Afghanistan.

Sources suggest that if Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, or indeed any other Pakistani militants, orchestrated the attacks, then elements in the Afghan Taliban may have helped facilitate the strikes.

The twin blasts have prompted fears of a slide into sectarian violence in Afghanistan, which until now has avoided the kind of attacks that have pitched Shiite against Sunni Muslims in Iraq and Pakistan.

Wednesday’s roadside bombing, which claimed women and children among its victims, underscored enduring instability in Afghanistan despite a decade-long war effort which has cost billions of dollars and thousands of lives.

In Kabul, many of those killed in the shrine bombing were buried amid emotional scenes.

Several hundred people marched through the west of the city chanting “God is great” with two of the bodies on the way to a burial ground, an AFP photographer said.

Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai said that while they had been prepared for violence, the funerals had passed off peacefully so far.

“The police have been prepared to counter any possible threats during the funeral ceremonies taking place today, fortunately there has not been any disruption or security incidents so far,” he said.

The US embassy confirmed that an American citizen was among the 55 people killed in the Kabul attack but gave no further details.

President Hamid Karzai scrapped a planned trip to Britain, flying back to Afghanistan for an emergency meeting with security chiefs after attending Monday’s Bonn conference on his country’s future.

He is due to meet survivors of the attack in hospital.

Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security intelligence agency confirmed that an investigation into the tragedy was now under way.

Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry, said the attack was the work of “the Taliban and their associates”, adding no-one else carried out such suicide attacks in Afghanistan.

An Afghan security official speaking on condition of anonymity said the bomber was from Kurram district in Pakistan’s border region and was connected to Sepah-i-Sahaba, a Lashkar-i-Jhangvi offshoot.

Afghans traditionally blame Pakistanis for fuelling much of the violence in their country.

Lashkar-i-Jhangvi was one of the groups involved in the kidnap and beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002.

It is notorious for suicide bombings and attacks on Pakistani Shiites.

The Afghan source added the attack aimed to “inflame sectarian violence in Afghanistan” but did not provide any evidence.

The official added: “This is not the work of the Taliban or if there is any Taliban involvement, it is very minimal.”

A Western security official speaking anonymously also suggested Pakistani involvement though stressed it was not clear whether this was “institutional”.

There are reported links between Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Pakistani intelligence.

“We’re particularly looking at TTP (Tehreek-i-Taliban, the Pakistani Taliban) although at the moment we don’t have any proof,” he said. The source added he believed the attack “aimed to weaken Afghan society”.

A Pakistani security official speaking anonymously said Lashkar-i-Jhangvi was closely associated with the Pakistani Taliban.

But he added: “This group is on the run and doesn’t have the capacity to carry out attacks inside Afghanistan, particularly in Kabul.”

Some analysts have raised fears of more sectarian violence in Afghanistan following the attacks but Shiite leaders have urged calm in the aftermath.