World Press Photo.

Kabul, Afghanistan

A young Shiite woman stands among the dead and injured, after a bomb blast at the crowded Abu Fazal shrine in Kabul, on 6 December. The explosion was the result of a suicide attack during the festival of Ashura, one of the most important events in the Shiite Muslim calendar, and the occasion for large gatherings and processions. Up to 60 people were killed and 160 wounded in the blast. Although Afghanistan has some history of tension between Sunni Muslims and a Shiite minority, suicide attacks for sectarian reasons on such a scale are rare. No-one immediately claimed responsibility for the Kabul attack.

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