Daesh said a gun attack in an Afghan mosque killed six people.
Source arabnews.com
HERAT: The Daesh organisation has taken credit for the six fatal shootings that occurred on Monday at a Shiite mosque in western Afghanistan.
The previous night, at about 9:00 p.m. (1630 GMT), in the Guzara district of Herat province, "an unknown armed person shot at civilian worshippers in a mosque," according to Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani on Tuesday morning.
He posted on social networking platform X, saying, "Six civilians were martyred and one civilian was injured."
Contrary to the official story of a lone attacker, the local branch of the Daesh group claimed credit late on Tuesday and stated that multiple shooters had stormed the mosque with machine guns.
The mosque, which catered to the minority Shiite community and was situated somewhat south of the provincial capital Herat, was alleged to have killed several people, including an imam and a three-year-old kid.
They claimed that the attack was planned by a group of three gunmen.
The brother of the deceased imam, Ibrahim Akhlaqi, 60, stated, "One of them was outside and two of them came inside the mosque, shooting the worshippers." "It happened during prayer time."
"Everyone present in the mosque has either suffered injuries or been killed," Sayed Murtaza Hussaini, 23, continued.
In an apparent attempt to reduce security risks, Taliban officials have often reported fatality figures from bombings and gun attacks that are lower than those reported by other sources, or have otherwise minimised them.
Daesh in Afghanistan
The biggest security danger in Afghanistan is the regional branch of Daesh, which has regularly targeted Shiite populations.
Since taking over control in August 2021, the Taliban government has promised to defend racial and religious minorities, but human rights watchdogs claim they haven't gone far enough in fulfilling this commitment.
The most prominent attack related to Daesh since the Taliban takeover was in 2022, when at least 53 people — including 46 girls and young women — were massacred in the suicide bombing of an education institution.
Taliban sources blamed Daesh for the attack, which happened in a Shiite district of the capital Kabul.
The country's new leaders assert that they have driven out IS, and they take very seriously any indication that the group may have found refuge in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of international soldiers.
A United Nations Security Council report released in January indicated there had been a decline in Daesh assaults in Afghanistan owing of “counter-terrorism efforts by the Taliban.”
But the assessment stated Daesh still had “substantial” recruitment in the country and that the militant group had “the ability to project a threat into the region and beyond.”
The Daesh chapter covering Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia claimed responsibility for the March attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Moscow, killing more than 140 people.
It was the deadliest attack in Russia in two decades
Source arabnews.com
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