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Afghanistan Mourns 80 Killed in Suicide Attack on Kabul Demonstration

Afghanistan marked a national day of mourning on Sunday, a day after at least 80 people were killed by a suicide bomb attack on a peaceful demonstration.
Image: Men mourn over the coffin of a victim a day after a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan
Men mourn over the coffin of a victim a day after a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan on July 24, 2016.MOHAMMAD ISMAIL / Reuters

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan marked a national day of mourning on Sunday, a day after at least 80 people were killed by a suicide bomb attack on a peaceful demonstration.

Image: Broken glass and debris are seen inside a resturant a day after a suicide attack in Kabul
Broken glass and debris are seen inside a restaurant a day after a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan July 24, 2016.MOHAMMAD ISMAIL / Reuters

Funerals were due to begin quietly in western Kabul as families collected their dead from hospitals and morgues across the capital.

Authorities say another 231 people were wounded, some seriously, in the ISIS attack Saturday afternoon on a march by members of the ethnic Hazara community, who are predominantly Shiite Muslim. Most Afghans are Sunni. ISIS regards Shiites as apostates.

The Islamic extremist group has had a presence in Afghanistan for the past year, mainly in the eastern province of Nangarhar along the Pakistani border. The Afghan military, backed by U.S. troops, is planning an offensive against ISIS positions in Nangarhar in coming days.

Related: Suicide Bombings at Kabul Demonstration Kill 80

Prior to the Saturday attack, thousands of Hazaras had marched through Kabul to demand the rerouting of a power line through their impoverished province of Bamiyan, in the central highlands.

Image: An Afghan man weeps outside a hospital after a suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan
A man weeps outside a hospital after the attack.Mohammad Ismail / Reuters

The office of President Ashraf Ghani said that march organizers had been warned to call off the demonstration after intelligence was received that an attack was likely.

Daud Naji, a member of the Enlighten Movement which organized the marches, said on Sunday that they had been told only that there was a "heightened risk" of attack and had subsequently cancelled nine of 10 planned routes.

He said that despite a government ban on all public gatherings and demonstrations for 10 days following the attack, the funerals and other mourning rites would go ahead.