It was near the sunset. The game was full of amazement and both players and fans wanted the winner to be identified. And there was an explosion suddenly, followed by another explosion. The fans and players fell to the ground. Some of them never heard another noise and they never got up again.
It was evening of a Friday and 12 days had passed from the new solar year. Some residents of Jabraeil of Herat had gathered in a playground to play a local game as usual. Theirs fans had also gathered to enjoy the game and to encourage them as well. It was near the sunset and when the explosion occurred, the players were playing enthusiastically. A person fell down due to the explosion and when the people rushed to help him then a second explosion occurred.
Nobody understood what had happened. Some people said it was a bomb that had been recently planted which killed and injured several people. Some other people believed it was a grenade thrown by a motorcyclist at the people. No official responded to the queries and no investigations were undertaken too. The Taliban group that controls Afghanistan does not pay heed attention to such incidents.
The attack had 29 casualties. According to a list provided by Herat hospital, 29 people were killed and injured and most of the names looked familiar. Mohammad Amiri, a Twitter user, tweeted the list of the victims indicating most of them were from the same village. Yes, they were from a remote village in Ghazni province who had come to Herat for seeking jobs.
This tragic incident happened in Gozar Tawhid 19 at about 6 PM. The local people said the people were playing “Sangirag game”, which Hazaras like it very much. Because Sangirag is a low-cost game. Although there are many fantastic games now, but the Sangirag game is very popular among the people yet.
All the victims were men, except two children aged 15 and 16. Wahid Mohseni a security force of the former government was among the injured people who died in the hospital. Therefore, totally 5 people were killed by the explosion.
Mohseni had worked for 10 years in different parts of Afghanistan, including Ghazni province. According to his friends, Mohseni who survived the 10 years in the war, wanted to take his wife and child to a secure place. He lost his life, not in the war but playing Sangirag; a game that no one thought it will kill lots of people one day.
Although Hazaras have been repeatedly attacked by the terrorist groups, it was the first time these groups attacked Hazaras who were playing a game; a game that didn’t have a winner or loser, but both the fans and players lost their lives.
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