Hamid Karzai vowed today to confront the government in Islamabad over a devastating suicide bombing against a Shiite shrine in Kabul that he said originated on Pakistani soil. At least 56 people were killed in yesterday's bombing at the shrine, and four more when a second bomb hit a Shiite vehicle procession. A man claiming to be from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami, a Pakistan-based splinter group of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi that has carried out attacks against Shiite Muslims in Pakistan, has called various media outlets to claim responsibility for the Kabul bombing.
Karzai said he believed this claim, although he did not elaborate. "We are investigating this issue and we are going to talk to the Pakistan government about it," Karzai told reporters as he visited a hospital where scores of people wounded in the attack were being treated. He said the attack was not just an act of hate against Muslims, but against mankind. "Afghanistan cannot ignore the blood of all the victims of this incident, especially the children," he added. (More Afghanistan stories.)