Authorities spokesman says unknown armed particular person shot at worshippers in a mosque in Herat province, killing a minimum of six folks.
A gunman stormed a mosque in western Afghanistan and killed six folks, a authorities spokesman says.
Ministry of Inside Affairs spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani mentioned “an unknown armed particular person shot at civilian worshippers in a mosque” at about 9pm (16:30 GMT) on Monday in Andisheh city of Guzara district in Herat province.
“Six civilians had been martyred and one civilian was injured,” he wrote on social media platform X early on Tuesday morning.
The state-run Bakhtar Information Company gave the identical demise toll for the assault. Citing native sources, native media channel Tolo reported the mosque belonged to Afghanistan’s minority Shia neighborhood.
A prayer chief, referred to as Imam, was additionally killed within the assault, native media reviews mentioned. The Iranian embassy in Kabul condemned the assault.
Whereas no group has but claimed the assault, the regional chapter of ISIL (ISIS) is the most important safety risk in Afghanistan and has continuously focused Shia communities.
The Taliban authorities has pledged to guard non secular and ethnic minorities since returning to energy in August 2021, however rights screens say they’ve performed little to make good on that promise.
Probably the most infamous assault linked to ISIL for the reason that Taliban takeover was in 2022, when a minimum of 53 folks – together with 46 women and younger ladies – had been slain within the suicide bombing at an schooling centre in a Shia neighbourhood of Kabul. Taliban officers blamed ISIL for the assault.
Kabul’s new rulers declare to have eradicated ISIL from Afghanistan and are extremely delicate to options the group has discovered secure haven within the nation for the reason that withdrawal of overseas forces.
Taliban authorities have continuously given demise tolls decrease than different sources after bombings and gun assaults, in an obvious try to downplay safety threats.
A United Nations Safety Council report launched in January mentioned there had been a lower in ISIL assaults in Afghanistan due to “counter-terrorism efforts by the Taliban”. However the report additionally mentioned ISIL nonetheless had “substantial” recruitment within the nation and that the armed group had “the power to challenge a risk into the area and past”.
The ISIL’s chapter spanning Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia claimed accountability for the March assault on the Crocus Metropolis Corridor live performance venue in Moscow, the place greater than 140 folks had been killed. It was the deadliest assault in Russia in twenty years.
