The Islamic State claimed credit for a suicide attack at a Shiite mosque in the western city of Herat last night that killed 29 people and wounded more than 60. The attack is the latest by the group that intentionally targeted Afghan civilians.
The jihadist group, in a brief statement released on its official Amaq News Agency, said that “an immersing attack by two Islamic State fighters” were responsible for the assault, according tot the SITE Intelligence Group. The fighters were identified as ‘Umayr ‘Assim and Tayyib al-Khorasani.
In a separate statement, The Islamic State said that the two fighters “executed upon the filthy Rawafidh [Shiites], harming and afflicting them, and killing among them, by the grace of Allah, nearly 50 polytheists and wounding more than 80 others.”
Afghan officials were unclear if one or two fighters were involved in the operation. Reports indicate that a suicide bomber detonated inside the Jawadia Mosque, and then minutes later another fighter toss grenades inside as recovery operations were underway. The Islamic State said that its fighters attacked the mosque with small arms and grenades, and then detonated their suicide vests.
Qari Mohammad Yousuf Ahmadi, an official Taliban spokesman, denied that his group was involved in the mosque bombing. The Taliban is sensitive to the issue of civilian casualties and distances itself from attacks where large numbers of civilians are killed.
The Islamic State’s Khorasan province has unabashedly targeted Afghan civilians, particularly Shiites, in mass-casualty suicide attacks in mosques and other locations. The group does not view Shiites as proper Muslims, and targets them as viciously as it does Western forces. [See FDD’s Long War Journal reports, Islamic State suicide bomber kills dozens at Kabul mosque and Islamic State continues to target Shiite civilians in Kabul.]
Last night’s bombing was the second high profile attack by the Islamic State in two days. The group also launched a suicide assault on the Iraqi embassy in Kabul; the exact number of casualties has not been disclosed.
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2 Comments
This is most unfortunate and a reflection of just how much influence the Sunni Arab nations have in Afghanistan. What’s the connection? Pakistan. Pakistan receives a large amount of aid from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and continues to harbor global terrorists like al Qaeda and the Taliban. While ISIS-K and al Qaeda/Taliban are mortal enemies, we should not discount the influence that Sunni Arabs (KSA, Kuwait, UAE, et al) have in Afghanistan. This actually achieves one of the Kingdom’s goals of surrounding Iran with Sunni nations. I know that Afghanistan is a hodge-podge but maintaining the instability in Afghanistan is a clear goal of both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like to not be as in bed with the Saudis and the Kuwaitis as we are. Of course, there would be plenty of other problems if the King wasn’t so interested in keeping strong relations with the west.
The fighting between the Sunnis and Shiites has been going on since the death of Mohamad and is not likely to end any time soon. The Sunnis have never considered the Shiites “as proper Muslims” (an understatement).