87 wounded, 20 killed in Fresh Kabul bombing

At least 20 people have been killed after three consecutive explosions occurred at the funeral ceremony of a protester in the Afghan capital Kabul, officials said.

“Until now we don’t know if the explosions were suicide bombings or previously placed explosives,” a police official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told dpa.

High-ranking officials, including Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, were present at the funeral.

At least 87 others were injured in the incident as well, said Wahidullah Majroh, a spokesman for the Afghan Public Health Ministry.

The blasts occurred where the burial ceremony of Mohammad Salem Izedyar, son of the deputy first speaker of the Senate, was taking place.

Salem was killed during a protest on Friday after police fired into a crowd of protesters in Kabul who poured onto the streets to protest a massive explosion in the city on Wednesday.

Chief Executive Abdullah said on Twitter he was “safe and sound.”

Foreign Minister Rabbani posted on his Facebook page that he was unharmed.

“Wild terrorists turned our martyr brother Salem Izedyar’s funeral ceremony to another killing field,” Rabbani wrote.

Wednesday’s blast, one of the worst since 2001, killed around 90 people and left 460 wounded when an explosives-laden human-waste tanker blew up in the Green Zone, Kabul’s diplomatic quarter, where many foreign embassies and government institutions are located.