“ISIS in Khorasan Province” claimed the attack against an Afghan Shiite mosque in Kunduz. More than 4 people lost their lives in the attack.
ISIS suicide attack hit a Shiite mosque in a city in northern Afghanistan. The Kunduz attack claimed dozens of lives among the worshipers from the Hazara minority in Afghanistan.
The slaughter occurred when the mosque was packed for the traditional Friday Prayer, making it the second assault against mosques in recent days. It was also the confirmation of Hazaras’ worries about the fate of this group following the takeover of Afghanistan by Taliban.
The ISIS in Khorasan Province, shortly referred to as ISKP or ISIS-K (K for Khorasan) claimed the arrack. The group’s official channel on Telegram announced the group’s role in the massacre.
Videos depicting the inner parts of the Mosque showed the corpses engulfed in the rubble of the mosque. There have been multiple, contradictory, reports about the number of victims. The UN missionary in the country confirmed that the bomb killed and injured over a hundred people.
A police official in Kunduz also confirmed that the majority of over 100 victims have lost their lives. He further added that an investigation was launched and “the Taliban are prepared to ensure their (Shiite group) safety.”
The exact number of victims, based on multiple sources, including Bakhtar, was 46. The state-run outlet further confirmed the injury of more than 140 people in the terrorist attack.
The DPA news agency, a deputy director for the province’s health department claimed there were approximately 50 fatalities and more than 50 suffered injuries.
Following the US abrupt and takeover of Afghanistan by Taliban, concerns grew over the expansion of terrorist attacks in the country. Some groups believe that Taliban is revenging Shiite groups under the shade of ISIS.
Is Kunduz Attack a Political Settlement?
The suicide attacker was a Uighur according to the ISIS-K offshoot, who claimed responsibility for the incident. The group stated that it aimed both Shiites and the Taliban due to their alleged desire to remove Uighurs to suit Chinese demands.
Aamaq news agency, an outlet with affiliation to ISIS published the proclamations. The main target if recent terrorist attack was the followers of Hazara group. The group has lived under discrimination for years in a major-Sunni nation. Furthermore, they have been oppressed due to being an ethnic minority in Kunduz and Afghanistan.
ISIS-affiliated factions have a long record of assaulting Afghanistan’s Shiite Muslims. Following the takeover of Taliban, ISIS-K has claimed responsibility for a series of assaults. Kabul mosque attack was on example among others.
“This [attack] is going to put more pressure on the Taliban; people will now be angry. When the Taliban took power in August, they prided themselves on providing a safe environment for Afghan people. Now, this isn’t the case anymore because you’re seeing the pattern of those attacks,” a local reporter said.
Kunduz attack, nevertheless, has more complicated dimensions too. Assessment and observations indicated that Taliban is gradually diminishing the early democratic face, replacing it with one more similar to its essence.
Taliban has claimed to follow the case with meticulous and quick accuracy. The group, however, failed the express sorrow for its failure in providing security for all groups of society.
Through the past two decades, Taliban has endured multiple blows from Shiite groups in Afghanistan. It’s not for from expectation that the current developments, like Kunduz Attack, are political settlements by Taliban.
Afghan people are not hopeful about the future. Taliban practice in administering the country may further disappoint people with their fate in the war-stricken land.
