AFGHANISTAN-ATTACK Afghanistan holds funeral for bus attack victims

Record ID: 141796

  • Title: AFGHANISTAN-ATTACK Afghanistan holds funeral for bus attack victims
  • Date: 6th September 2015
  • Summary: MAZAR-I-SHARIF, AFGHANISTAN (SEPTEMBER 6, 2015) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) AMBULANCES DRIVING IN STREET / SOUND OF SIREN COFFIN BEING CARRIED BY GROUP OF MAN COFFIN BEING PLACE INTO BACK OF VEHICLE RELATIVE OF VICTIM CRYING VARIOUS OF MEN CARRYING COFFIN TO MOSQUE FOR PRAYERS MAN CRYING WOMEN IN BURQA CRYING AND SHOUTING "DEATH TO (AFGHAN PRESIDENT) ASHRAF GHANI AND HIS GOVERNMENT" (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) POLICE CHIEF OF BALKH PROVINCE, SAYED KAMAL SADAT, SAYING: "Our investigation shows that armed robbers had killed 13 people, only one woman had survived in Zari district. We are working on this case and very soon perpetrators will be brought to justice." CROWD GATHERED OUTSIDE MOSQUE RELATIVE OF VICTIM CRYING RELATIVES SITTING AROUND COFFIN WOMAN WHO LOST A FAMILY MEMBER FALLING UNCONSCIOUS ON THE GROUND
  • Embargoed: 21st September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Afghanistan
  • Country: Afghanistan
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9M803PJ6YMRGXT9D88PKH6SWR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    A funeral was held on Sunday (September 6) for the victims killed in a minibus attack in north Afghanistan a day earlier.
    At least 13 people were killed by gunmen who attacked a minibus on Saturday, police and local officials said.
    All victims belonged to the largely Shi'ite Hazara ethnic minority that was persecuted by the hardline Sunni Taliban during their rule in 1996-2001, said Jafar Haidari, district governor of Zari in Balkh province, where the attack took place.
    On Sunday a funeral ceremony was held at a mosque in Mazar city for the victims, as grieving relatives gathered around the coffins and mourned their loss.
    Last month gunmen kidnapped 12 Hazaras from a car in east Afghanistan, days after suspected Taliban fighters kidnapped and killed four Hazaras in the same province. Munir Ahmad Farhad, a spokesman for the Balkh governor, said an investigation team had been sent to the area.
    Sayed Kamal Sadat, police chief of Balkh province, said: "Our investigation shows that armed robbers had killed 13 people, only one woman had survived in Zari district. We are working on this case and very soon perpetrators will be brought to justice."
    Almost 5,000 civilians died in fighting and attacks in Afghanistan in the first half of 2015, the United Nations says, attributing around 70 percent of the killings to the Taliban.
    The Islamist militants were ousted from power by a U.S.-led coalition in 2001 and are waging an insurgency against the foreign-backed government.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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