The blast killed 33 civilians, police mentioned. (Representational)
Kabul:
A bomb blast ripped by means of a mosque throughout Friday prayers in northern Afghanistan, killing 33 individuals together with kids, only a day after the ISIS group claimed two separate lethal assaults.
Since Taliban fighters seized management of Afghanistan final 12 months after ousting the US-backed authorities, the variety of bombings has fallen however the jihadist and Sunni IS has continued with assaults towards targets they see as heretical.
A string of bombings rocked the nation this week, with lethal assaults concentrating on a college and a mosque in Shiite neighbourhoods.
Taliban authorities spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted that kids have been among the many 33 lifeless within the blast on Friday at a mosque within the northern province of Kunduz.
“We condemn this crime… and categorical our deepest sympathies to the bereaved,” he mentioned, including 43 extra have been wounded.
An intelligence official mentioned on situation of anonymity that the explosion was brought on by a bomb, however it was unclear the way it was detonated.
An AFP correspondent noticed massive holes blown by means of the partitions of the Mawlavi Sikandar mosque, common with Sufis within the Imam Sahib district, north of Kunduz metropolis.
One facet of the mosque was fully destroyed by the explosion.
Jihadist teams resembling ISIS bear a deep hatred for Sufis who they view as heretics and accuse them of polytheism — the best sin in Islam — for searching for the intercession of lifeless saints.
“The sight on the mosque was horrifying. All those that have been worshipping contained in the mosque have been both injured or killed,” Mohammad Esah, a shopkeeper who helped ferry victims to the district hospital, advised information company AFP.
“I noticed 20 to 30 our bodies,” one other native resident mentioned.
“Shrapnel accidents”
Family members of victims arrived on the native hospital to search for their family members.
“My son is martyred,” screamed one man, whereas a lady accompanied by her 4 kids looked for her husband.
A nurse advised AFP over the cellphone that between 30 to 40 individuals had been admitted for therapy of wounds from the blast.
A few dozen ambulances ferried the severely wounded to the primary provincial hospital in Kunduz metropolis.
“The shrapnel accidents on the our bodies of the wounded present they have been brought on by a bomb explosion,” a physician on the provincial hospital advised AFP.
Friday’s blast was one of many greatest assaults for the reason that Taliban seized energy on August 15 final 12 months.
The deadliest was simply days later when greater than 100 Afghan civilians and 13 US servicemen have been killed in a suicide assault at Kabul airport as tens of 1000’s have been attempting to flee the nation.
ISIS claimed accountability for that assault.
The regional IS department in Sunni-majority Afghanistan has repeatedly focused Shiites and minorities like Sufis, who comply with a mystical department of Islam.
ISIS is a Sunni Islamist group just like the Taliban, however the two are bitter rivals.
The largest ideological distinction between the 2 is that the Taliban sought solely an Afghanistan freed from international forces, whereas ISIS needs an Islamic caliphate stretching from Turkey to Pakistan and past.
ISIS claimed a bombing at a Shiite mosque within the northern metropolis of Mazar-i-Sharif on Thursday that killed no less than 12 individuals and wounded 58 extra. The Taliban say they’ve arrested the “mastermind” of the assault.
Additionally they claimed a separate assault in Kunduz metropolis on Thursday, which killed 4 individuals and wounded 18.
Problem dealing with Taliban
No group has but to assert twin blasts on a boys’ college in a Shiite neighbourhood of Kabul on Tuesday, which killed six and wounded greater than 25.
Shiite Afghans, who’re principally from the Hazara group, make up between 10 and 20 p.c of Afghanistan’s inhabitants of 38 million.
Taliban officers insist their forces have defeated ISIS, however analysts say the jihadist group is a key safety problem.
“Because the Taliban took energy, the one achievement that they’re pleased with is the development in safety,” mentioned Hekmatullah Hekmat, an unbiased political and safety skilled.
“If that’s not sustained and in the event that they fail to restrain IS, then they will even be a failure just like the earlier authorities.”
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
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