OIC condemns bus explosion in Mazar-e-Sharif

The General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned the “deplorable bombing” on Tuesday against a bus carrying employees of a petroleum company in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital city of Balkh province in northern Afghanistan.

In a statement published Tuesday, OIC said the bombing, the latest in a series of deadly blasts, has resulted in the death of a number of petroleum company employees and left many innocent civilians injured.

“The General Secretariat reaffirms the steadfast position of the OIC on the imperative need to hold the perpetrators, organizers, financiers, and sponsors of such reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice,” the statement read.

“Stomping out terrorism in Afghanistan, the General Secretariat reasserted, is an essential requisite for the political stabilization of the violence-plagued country, without which hardly any social or economic development could be achievable,” the statement read.

At least eight people were killed early Tuesday when a bus, carrying employees of Hairatan Oil, was bombed in Mazar.

“Today around 7 a.m. a roadside mine blast took place in District 3 of Mazar-e-Sharif city on a bus, which belonged to Hairatan Oil employees,” said Mohammad Asif Wazeri, police spokesman for northern Balkh province, adding that at least nine people were also wounded in the explosion.