Iran’s FM Urges Shiites, Sunnis to Unite against Extremists
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif condemned the recent terrorist attacks in the Afghan capital, Kabul, calling on Shiites and Sunnis to unite against extremist groups.
“Afghanistan terror bombings another instance of depth of Daesh depravity: Shia & Sunni are both victims & must unite to defeat extremists,” Zarif tweeted late on Saturday.
His message came after bomb attacks ripped through the district of Dehmazang in Kabul Saturday where hundreds of people were protesting over a controversial power line.
At least 80 people were killed and 230 others sustained serious injuries.
The demonstrators had gathered to demand that a multi-million-dollar power line pass through their electricity-starved province of Bamiyan, one of the most deprived areas of Afghanistan with a large Hazara population.
The so-called 500-kilovolt TUTAP power line, which would connect the Central Asian nations of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan with electricity-hungry Afghanistan and Pakistan, was originally set to pass through the central province.
But the government re-routed it through the mountainous Salang pass north of Kabul, saying the shorter route would speed up the project and save millions of dollars.
