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The blast killed 33 civilians, police mentioned. (Representational)
Kabul:
A bomb blast ripped by way of a mosque throughout Friday prayers in northern Afghanistan, killing 33 folks together with kids, only a day after the ISIS group claimed two separate lethal assaults.
Since Taliban fighters seized management of Afghanistan final yr after ousting the US-backed authorities, the variety of bombings has fallen however the jihadist and Sunni IS has continued with assaults in opposition to 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 had been among the many 33 useless within the blast on Friday at a mosque within the northern province of Kunduz.
“We condemn this crime… and specific our deepest sympathies to the bereaved,” he mentioned, including 43 extra had been wounded.
An intelligence official mentioned on situation of anonymity that the explosion was attributable to a bomb, nevertheless it was unclear the way it was detonated.
An AFP correspondent noticed massive holes blown by way of the partitions of the Mawlavi Sikandar mosque, well-liked 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 useless saints.
“The sight on the mosque was horrifying. All those that had been worshipping contained in the mosque had been both injured or killed,” Mohammad Esah, a shopkeeper who helped ferry victims to the district hospital, informed information company AFP.
“I noticed 20 to 30 our bodies,” one other native resident mentioned.
“Shrapnel accidents”
Relations 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 informed AFP over the telephone that between 30 to 40 folks had been admitted for therapy of wounds from the blast.
A couple of dozen ambulances ferried the critically wounded to the primary provincial hospital in Kunduz metropolis.
“The shrapnel accidents on the our bodies of the wounded present they had been attributable to a bomb explosion,” a physician on the provincial hospital informed AFP.
Friday’s blast was one of many largest assaults for the reason that Taliban seized energy on August 15 final yr.
The deadliest was simply days later when greater than 100 Afghan civilians and 13 US servicemen had been killed in a suicide assault at Kabul airport as tens of hundreds had been making an attempt to flee the nation.
ISIS claimed duty for that assault.
The regional IS department in Sunni-majority Afghanistan has repeatedly focused Shiites and minorities like Sufis, who observe 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 desires 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 a minimum of 12 folks 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 folks and wounded 18.
Problem dealing with Taliban
No group has but to say 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.
“For the reason that Taliban took energy, the one achievement that they’re pleased with is the development in safety,” mentioned Hekmatullah Hekmat, an impartial political and safety knowledgeable.
“If that isn’t sustained and in the event that they fail to restrain IS, then they may also be a failure just like the earlier authorities.”
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
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