Published October 21,2017
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In two back to back suicide attacks aimed at the Shia community mosques in Afghanistan on Friday, close to 59 people were killed, officials have confirmed.
Daesh group has claimed responsibility for the attack at a mosque in the capital Kabul that killed up to 39 people. In a statement posted by the militants' Amaq News Agency, Daesh has praised the attacker named Abo Amar Al-Turkmani for killing up to 70 'infidels' at this Shia community mosque.
Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish confirmed it was a suicide attack aimed at the Imam Zaman Mosque in the capital's western Dasht-e-Archi neighborhood. He noted in a statement that the attack has left 39 innocent people martyred and 45 more wounded.
On Aug. 25 a similar attack at the same mosque was also claimed by pro-Daesh militants. Up to 50 people were killed in the attack, also timed to occur on the mosque's busy Friday. There has been an array of such attacks at mosques this year.
Also on Friday, in the central Ghor province, another Shia community was targeted by unknown suicide bomber apparently aimed at a local militia commander Fazal Ahmad Khan. Abdul Hai Khatibi, spokesman for the governor, told Anadolu Agency 20 worshipers, including the local militia commander Fazal Ahmad Khan were killed and ten more people wounded in this suicide attack in the Dolena district of the province.
President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani pronounced these attacks as crimes against humanity, contrary to all Islamic values and human rights.
"The terrorists criminals who have tarnished the image of Islam for their evil targets and do not believe in any of its values, threatens the security of the people, especially the faithful worshipers", Ghani said in a statement. Adding that the terrorists' plans of sowing seeds of hatred against the national unity in Afghanistan would not be thwarted and they will soon be suppressed and destroyed by the Afghan security and defense forces.
The relatively peaceful coexistence between followers of different sects in Afghanistan has recently come under attack from pro-Daesh rebels who have killed scores of Shia believers in many brazen terrorist attacks.
