Suicide bombers kill dozens at Shiite mosque in Afghanistan, the second such attack in a week

3 yıl önce

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A massive suicide bombing, the second this week, rocked Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least 50 people at a Shiite mosque in the country’s south and intensifying concerns that extremist groups are gaining strength in the aftermath of the Taliban’s takeover.

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In the latest attack, multiple suicide bombersstruck a Shiite mosque in the southern city of Kandahar during Friday prayers. No group immediately asserted responsibility, but a similar attack in the northern city of Kunduz last Friday was claimed by the Islamic State.

Taliban police commander Abdul Ghafar Mohammadi said the blasts killed more than 50 people and wounded at least 100. But he said he expects the toll to rise as health workers recover more bodies.

Many victims “remain under the ruined mosque,” Hafiz Abdul Hai Abbas, health director for the province, told The Washington Post earlier in the day.

Many Afghans fear that the attacks demonstrate that the Taliban — now in control of all of Afghanistan — is unable to control other militant and terrorist groups, especially in urban areas. If groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State are able to grow in Afghanistan under the Taliban, the country could again become a haven for those intent on launching international attacks.

The attack in Kunduz last week — when a suicide bomber attacked a crowded Shiite mosque during Friday prayers, killing nearly 50 worshipers and wounding dozens more — was claimed by the Islamic State’s Afghanistan branch.

The Taliban, which took power two months ago and is under pressure to protect Afghans from such blasts, condemned the attack as “a big crime” and ordered its fighters to arrest those behind it.

Eyewitnesses told The Post that they heard multiple explosions from the mosque.

“First, I heard gunfire, and then explosions followed,” said Abdul Jabar Karimi, a 40-year-old who survived the blast. “Blood was everywhere.”

Murtaza Khaledi, 26, said he saw as many as four suicide bombers — two who detonated their bombs near the mosque’s entrance and two who set off their explosives inside the building.

“Everyone is shocked. Shiites in Kandahar were never attacked before,” Khaledi said.

Footage from inside the mosque showed several bloody bodies on the floor, some covered in sheets, while onlookers wailed. The Taliban said it sent its elite forces to the site to investigate.

The Islamic State views followers of the Shiite sect of Islam as heretics and often targets their places of worship.

There have been several attacks on religious sites after U.S. troops exited the country in August, highlighting the challenge the Taliban faces in maintaining security as Afghanistan’s new rulers.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan put Friday’s toll at around 30 dead and condemned the attack on what it called Kandahar’s largest Shiite mosque.

“Those responsible need to be held to account,” it tweeted.

Cheung reported from London. Mohammadullah Aryen in Kabul contributed to this report.