Afghanistan: explosion near Kunduz mosque, many dead and injured
Bodies are evacuated from the mosque affected by the attack in Kunduz on October 8, 2021. AFP - -
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At least 50 people were killed and 140 injured in the explosion that hit a Shiite mosque in the city of Kunduz, northeastern Afghanistan on Friday (October 8), hospital sources have learned.
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This afternoon, an explosion took place in a Shiite mosque in the Khan Abad Bandar neighborhood of Kunduz.
Several of our compatriots have been killed and wounded,
”Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson for the Taliban government announced on Twitter.
The local media reported scores of casualties.
Interior Ministry spokesman Qari Sayed Khosti confirmed to AFP that an explosion had taken place in Kunduz, without providing any further details.
Shiites targeted
In Afghanistan, the Shiites are regularly the target of attacks, often carried out by the local branch of the Islamic State (IS) group. The explosion comes five days after a bombing of a mosque in Kabul, which left at least five dead and was claimed by ISIS. The attack targeted the Id Gah mosque in the capital on Sunday, where a funeral ceremony was held in tribute to the mother of Zabihullah Mujahid, who died last week.
He had illustrated the rivalry, and the tenacious and reciprocal hatred between ISIS and the Taliban, two radical Sunni groups.
The Islamic State in Khorasan (IS-K) has claimed some of the deadliest attacks in recent years in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Including suicide bombings in mosques, hospitals and other public places.
Muslim heretics
The group has, in particular, targeted Muslims it considers to be heretics, notably the Shiites of the Hazara minority.
In August 2019, he claimed responsibility for an attack against Shiites at a wedding in Kabul, where 91 people were killed.
He was also strongly suspected of having been behind an attack in May 2020 on a maternity hospital in a predominantly Shiite district of the capital which claimed the lives of 25 people, including 16 mothers and newborn babies.
The takeover of the country by the Taliban in mid-August did not end the terrorist threat, as the attack on August 26 near Kabul airport, which had already shown. more than a hundred dead, including 13 American soldiers, and claimed by IS-K.
(
with AFP
)
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To read also: Attack in Afghanistan: the Taliban say they have neutralized an ISIS cell
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