The Islamic State claimed responsibility for Thursday’s devastating multiple suicide-bomb attack in the heart of Afghanistan’s capital, killing at least 41 people and injuring nearly 100 at a cultural center in Kabul.
According to the New York Post, ISIS used three suicide bombers to slaughter dozens at a the Shiite Muslim Cultural Center in the center of the city, where hundreds of people gathered to mark the anniversary of the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan nearly forty years ago.
“We were inside the hall in the second row when an explosion from behind took place,” said a student who was on the scene. “After the blast there was fire and smoke inside the building and everyone was pleading for help.”
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani addressed the nation a short-time later, calling the suicide-bombings a “crime against humanity.”
“The terrorist have killed our people,” said Ghani. “The terrorists have attacked our mosques, our holy places and now our cultural center.”
CHRISTMAS MIRACLE: Iraqis Celebrate FIRST Post-ISIS Christmas in Mosul
Christians throughout Iraq celebrated the Christmas holiday at churches and public gatherings across the country this year, marking the first-time residents of Mosul were able to openly worship since being liberated from ISIS just months ago.
From Baghdad to Mosul, videos of Christians attending Christmas services flooded social media; with joyous congregants publicly worshipping in what one twitter user described as “ISIS’ nightmare.”
اول #ميلاد لليسوع في بغداد بعد اعلان النصر على #داعش
الان من كنيسة سيدة النجاة #Christmas #baghdad pic.twitter.com/fJk1d2Gajh— Methaq Al-fayyadh (@MethaqAlFayyadh) December 24, 2017
Christians in Mosul Celebrate First Post-ISIS Christmas Mass pic.twitter.com/uV6pMT7K06
— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 25, 2017
Iraqi Christians have raised a 30-ft. tall Christmas tree in Baghdad to celebrate both the holiday and the expulsion of ISIS extremists by Iraq Security Forces. pic.twitter.com/e96oaR5neN
— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 23, 2017
In July of this year, the Iraqi government officially announced that ISIS has been completely eradicated from Iraq’s second largest city and home to a large proportion of the Muslim nation’s Christian community.
Mosul had fallen to Islamic fighters more than three years ago in June of 2014, when ISIS reclaimed the city after months of fierce fighting against coalition forces.