nbc's atia abawi is in kabul for us tonight. atia, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. well, there were three separate attacks and they took place on one of the holiest days for shiite muslims. before the attacks, shiite muslims gathered to worship at a mosque here in kabul. but without warning, this day of remembrance turned tragic. a suicide bomber hiding in a crowd of men, women and children blew himself up. the huge blast killed at least 56 people, 150 injured. after the bomb detonated, there were wounded everywhere in pieces, this witness said. and dead everywhere. few were spared. this woman cried for her only son. this man for his mother. outside the nearest hospital, family members gathered fearing the worst. soon after, another attack targeting a convoy of shiites in northern afghanistan. the bomb hidden in a bicycle. four were killed there, 21 injured. police reportedly found and diffused a second bomb nearby. a third attack in khandahar left one person dead. sectarian violence like this is rare among muslims in afghanistan, unlike pakistan and iraq, despite 3

and we hear her story now from nbc's atia abawe. >> reporter: 19-year-old gonaz is a prisoner, behind bars entrapped in a society that still treats women as second-class citizens. she says she was raped by her cousin's husband. she went to the police to seek justice. instead, she was charged with adultery and locked up. i don't know why they put me in jail, she says. her daughter a product of the rape was born on her prison cell floor. initially sentenced to two years, she appealed and lost. her sentence increased to 12 years unless she agreed to marry the man she says raped her. american lawyer kimberly mottley took the case and just last week helped gonaz gain a presidential pardon. >> it definitely is putting the attorney general's office, the supreme court, and also others that are working within this justice system sort of on notice. >> reporter: gonaz is now counting the days until her release. the life that she is leaving behind is sharing a prison room with several other prisoners and children. >> reporter: about 90% of afghan women suffer some sort of necessa domestic abuse.

with a good day to you, atia, okay. so al qaeda claimed sole responsibility for the kidnapping earlier this week. how then did the taliban get involved? >> god morning, alex. according to the nbc colleagues, they were able to obtain information from the pakistani taliban. known as the ttp. they say they work in one with al qaeda they are one organization. they say they were behind going to warn's house in pakistan on august 13th, abducting him, and taking him from house to house until they felt it was safe enough to announce the fact that they were behind the abduction. that being said, they still consider him the leader of al qaeda as their own leader. and they are leaving it to him to be behind the negotiations and the demands to release him. those demands include releasing all prisoners from guantanamo bay and other prisons that the u.s. may hold throughout the world, stopping air strikes in places like afghanistan, pakistan, somolia, yemen and gaza. and being involved and releasing all prisoners that they've obtaine

let's go straight to atia abawi. >> reporter: good morning, ann. coordinated attacks in afghanistan are rare in itself but coordinated sectarian violence is pretty much unheard of in afghanistan. what we saw was the first attack taking place at a shrine in kabul. 50 people were dead, 150 people wounded. then there was an attack in the north of afghanistan where four people were killed, also at a shrine and 21 wounded. in southern afghanistan, in kandahar, another blast. luckily no people were killed but six were wounded in that attack. what makes this very unique is the fact that they did attack during a shia holy day. many trying to mark a day in the shia religion where they are marking mourning really, the loss of imam hussein but what's really unique is the taliban sent an e-mail condemning the attack. they say this is a plot by the enemies of afghanistan that are trying to divide the afghan people and the afghan nation. >> obviously a very chaotic scene this. the story is still developing. thank you so much. >>> it is now 7:02. now here's matt.