Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 8: In one of the bloodiest attacks by a terror group since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the United States forces in August, about 100 persons are feared killed and scores of others injured in a suicide bomb attack on worshippers at a Shia mosque in the Afghan city of Kunduz on Friday.
The attack against the minority community in the country, which has not been claimed by anyone so far, appears to have been designed to destabilise Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover. The extremist Islamic State group, bitter rivals of the Taliban, has repeatedly targeted Shiites in a bid to stir up sectarian violence in Sunni-majority Afghanistan. Matiullah Rohani, director of culture and information in Kunduz for Afghanistan’s new Taliban government, confirmed that the deadly incident was a suicide bomb attack.
A medical source at the Kunduz Provincial Hospital said that 35 dead and more than 50 injured had been taken there, while a worker at a Doctors Without Borders hospital reported 15 dead and scores more wounded.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had earlier said an unknown number of people had been killed and injured when “an explosion took place in a mosque of our Shiite compatriots” in Kunduz.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State group, arch-rival of the Taliban, has claimed similar recent atrocities. Residents of Kunduz, the capital of a province of the same name, told the media that the blast hit a Shiite mosque during Friday prayers, the most important of the week for Muslims.
Zalmai Alokzai, a local businessman who rushed to Kunduz Provincial Hospital to check whether doctors needed blood donations, described horrific scenes. “Ambulances were going back to the incident scene to carry the dead,” he said. An international aid worker at the MSF hospital in the city said there were fears the death toll could rise.
“Hundreds of people are gathered at the main gate of the hospital and crying for their relatives but armed Taliban guys are trying to prevent gatherings in case another explosion is planned,” he said. Graphic images shared on social media showed several bloodied bodies lying on the floor. Pictures showed plumes of smoke rising into the air over Kunduz.
Another video showed men shepherding people, including women and children, away from the scene. Frightened crowds thronged the streets.
Aminullah, an eyewitness whose brother was at the mosque, said, “After I heard the explosion, I called my brother but he did not pick up. I walked towards the mosque and found my brother wounded and faint. We immediately took him to the MSF hospital.”
A female teacher in Kunduz said the blast happened near her house, and several of her neighbours were killed. “It was a very terrifying incident,” she said. “Many of our neighbours have been killed or wounded. A 16-year-old neighbour was killed. They couldn’t find half of his body. Another neighbour who was 24 was killed as well.”
Kunduz’s location makes it a key transit point for economic and trade exchanges with Tajikistan. It was the scene of fierce battles as the Taliban fought their way back into power this year.
Often targeted by Sunni extremists, Shiite Muslims have suffered some of Afghanistan’s most violent assaults, with rallies bombed, hospitals targeted and commuters ambushed.
Shias make up roughly 20 percent of the Afghan population. Many of them are Hazara, an ethnic group that has been heavily persecuted in Afghanistan for decades. In October 2017, a lone IS suicide attacker struck a Shiite mosque as worshippers gathered for evening prayers in the west of Kabul, killing 56 people and wounding 55 including women and children.
And in May this year, a series of bombings outside a school in the capital killed at least 85 people — mostly young girls. More than 300 were wounded in this attack on the Hazara community.