ISIS Bombs Afghan Mosque

“The militants planted explosives in the mosque, detonating it remotely when the church was packed with worshipers,” the Islamic State (IS) group said in a statement today.

According to an Afghan official, the attack left at least 10 people dead and 15 injured. Pictures of the victims being taken from the Seh Dokan mosque to the hospital were shared on social media. Some other images show debris scattered after the attack.

Another explosion in the city of Kunduz killed at least four people and injured 18. Police spokesman Obaidullah Abedi said the vehicle carrying a mechanic working for the Taliban was hit by a bomb attached to a bicycle.

The number of bombings in Afghanistan has dwindled since the Taliban returned to power last August, but IS in Khorasan, the IS affiliate in Afghanistan, still carries out attacks.

Afghanistan’s Shiite Hazara community, which makes up 10-20% of the country’s 38 million population, has long been the target of attacks, believed to be carried out by the Taliban or IS.

Earlier this week, two explosions outside a boys’ school in a Shiite neighborhood in the capital Kabul killed at least six people and wounded 25. No group has yet claimed responsibility.

Since taking power, the Taliban have regularly raided IS hideouts in the eastern province of Nangarhar. Taliban officials insist their forces have defeated IS, but analysts say the group remains a major security challenge.

Last May, at least 85 people, mostly schoolgirls, were killed and about 300 injured when three bombs exploded near a school in Dasht-e-Barchi, west of Kabul. No group has claimed responsibility, but IS has claimed a suicide attack on an educational center in Dasht-e-Barchi in October 2020, which killed 24 people, including students.

IS is also believed to be responsible for a bloody attack on the obstetrics department of a nearby hospital in May 2020, which killed 25 people, including pregnant women.

Huyen Le (According to AFP)