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At least 27 32 killed, 81 injured in attack on Afghanistan political rally
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

Gunmen attacked a ceremony in the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday where a top Afghan political leader, Abdullah Abdullah
...the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against both Karzai and Ghani. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun. He also held the meaningless salaried sop position as CEO of Afghanistan, while Ghani was president...
, was present but escaped unharmed.

At least 27 people were killed and 29 others maimed at the event, according to Afghan officials, the first big attack on the capital since a troop withdrawal agreement was signed last week in Doha between the United States and the Afghan Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...
Health ministry front man Wahidullah Mayar said the victims were taken to local hospitals.

Afghan cops were still trying to flush the button men out of a half-finished apartment building, interior ministry front man Nasrat Rahimi said.

The Taliban said in a statement they were not involved in the attack.
Last year ISIS claimed the attack on this annual Shiite memorial celebration, while the Taliban again denied involvement.
"The attack started with a boom, apparently a rocket landed in the area, Abdullah and some other politicians [...] escaped the attack unhurt," Abdullah's front man, Fraidoon Kwazoon, who was also present, told Rooters by telephone.

The gathering marked the anniversary of the death of Abdul Ali Mazari, an ethnic Hazara
...a grouping of Dari-speaking people of Sino-Tibetan descent inhabiting Afghanistan and Pakistain. They are predominantly Shia Moslems and not particularly warlike, which makes them favored targets...
 leader who was killed in 1995 after being taken prisoner by the Taliban.

Abdullah, runner-up in the last three Afghan presidential elections, each of which he disputed, has served as chief executive of a coalition government since 2014 and is also a former foreign minister.

Broadcaster Tolo News showed live footage of people running for cover as gunfire was heard.

President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money...
 tweeted that the attack was "a crime against humanity and against the national unity of Afghanistan".

He added he had telephoned Abdullah, his longtime political rival. Abdullah is contesting an Electoral Commission announcement last month that declared Ghani the winner of September's presidential election.
Tolo News updates the casualty numbers:
At least 32 people were killed and 81 others were wounded in the attack on a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of Abdul Ali Mazari, leader of the Hezb-e Wahdat party, the Afghan Ministry of Interior (MoI) said on Friday.

Posted by: Fred 2020-03-07
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=565288