Afghanistan Dihantam Bom Bunuh Diri, 33 Tewas, Taliban Tuding ISIS
33 People Died after the Suicide Bomber - the First in Afghanistan by ISIS
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
Jalalabad (B2B) - Bom bunuh diri di Jalalabad, kota di bagian timur Afghanistan, menewaskan 33 orang dan melukai lebih dari 100 orang pada Sabtu (18/4). Menurut kepala kepolisian setempat bom meledak di luar bank tempat para pekerja pemerintah mengambil gaji.
Ledakan itu memecahkan jendela-jendela dan menerbangkan pecahannya ke jalanan serta membuat asap dan debu memenuhi udara.
"Itu serangan bunuh diri," kata kepala polisi Fazel Ahmad Sherzad serta menambahkan petugas masih menyelidiki laporan saksi mengenai ledakan itu, seperti dilansir Yahoo! News.
Polisi mengatakan ledakan terkini yang mengguncang Jalalabad adalah ledakan yang dikendalikan setelah ahli menemukan bom lain di dekat tempat ledakan pertama.
Media lokal melansir pernyataan bekas juru bicara Taliban Pakistan yang menuduh kelompok Negara Islam (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria/ISIS) di Pakistan dan Afghanistan bertanggung jawab atas kejadian itu.
Namun juru bicara itu tidak bisa dijangkau dan hubungannya dengan kelompok itu tidak bisa diverifikasi.
Presiden Ashraf Ghani juga menyalahkan militan Negara Islam atas kejadian itu tanpa memberikan penjelasan rinci lebih lanjut.
Presiden Ghani mengunjungi Washington bulan lalu dan memperingatkan bahwa ISIS menimbulkan "ancaman mengerikan" bagi negerinya.
Sampai sekarang militan yang mengklaim menjadi bagian ISIS di Afghanistan kebanyakan bekas pejuang Taliban yang kecewa dengan pemimpin mereka.
Sementara Taliban sendiri mengutuk serangan itu sebagai kejahatan. Kelompok yang digulingkan dari kekuasaan oleh invasi pimpinan Amerika Serikat tahun 2001 itu jarang mengklaim serangan yang membunuh banyak warga sipil dan menyatakan mereka menyasar orang asing atau militer Afghanistan dan pemerintah.
"Itu tindak kejahatan. Kami sangat mengecamnya," kata juru bicara Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid.
Jalalabad - A suicide bomber in Afghanistan's eastern city of Jalalabad killed 33 people and injured more than 100 on Saturday, setting off a blast outside a bank where government workers collect salaries, the city's police chief said.
The explosion smashed windows and sent debris flying across a tree-lined street, filling the air with smoke and dust.
"It was a suicide attack," police chief Fazel Ahmad Sherzad told a news conference. He added that officials were investigating witness reports of a second explosion after people had rushed to the area to help the wounded.
Police said a later blast that shook Jalalabad was a controlled detonation after experts discovered a further bomb close to the scene of the initial explosion.
Local media said a former spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban had claimed responsibility on behalf of the Islamic State in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The spokesman could not be reached and his connection to the group could not be verified by Reuters.
Islamist militants of various hues already hold sway across restive and impoverished areas of South Asia, but Islamic State has started to draw support from younger fighters in the region, impressed by its rapid capture of territory in Syria and Iraq.
President Ghani visited Washington last month and warned that Islamic State posed a "terrible threat" to his country.
Taliban insurgents denied responsibility and did not comment on the alleged Islamic State link. The militants, who were ousted from power by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, rarely claim attacks that kill large groups of civilians, saying they target foreigners or the Afghan military and government.
"It was an evil act. We strongly condemn it," the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters.