Afghanistan: Shia Musim passengers targeted as blasts hit minibuses

At least nine people have been martyred and more than a dozen injured in two separate bomb explosions that rocked the northern city of Mazar Sharif in Afghanistan, just days after a series of bombings in the war-torn country.

The blasts hit two minibuses in the city on Thursday, targeting Shia Muslim passengers, according to the police.

“The targets appear to be Shia passengers,” Balkh provincial police spokesman Asif Waziri told AFP, adding 13 people were wounded in the blasts.

According to Waziri, the blasts took place within minutes of each other in different districts in the evening, when citizens were heading home from work.

“The enemies of Afghanistan are creating tension and division among our people,” he said.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the bombings.

Mazar-e-Sharif is already reeling from a recent major bomb attack at a mosque that killed dozens of people. Scores of people have lost their lives in a series of terrorist attacks across the country over the past few weeks. The victims have mostly been from the Shia Muslim Hazara minority.

An explosion in a mosque in the northern city of Kunduz killed at least 33 Afghan people, including children, and wounded 43 others.

SS