33 killed, 45 wounded in Afghanistan mosque blast

Asia-Pacific, News April 24, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

33 people were killed and more than 45 were severely wounded as a result of a blast during the Friday prayers on April 22 in Kunduz city, northern Afghanistan, according to the Taliban spokesperson.

Zabiullah Mujahid, the spokesperson of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, confirmed the death toll in a Tweet. “The perpetrators of these incidents are evil elements and serious efforts are being made to arrest and punish them,” Zabiullah said.

So far, no organization has taken responsibility for this particular blast, however, considering the fact that all previous blasts targeting mosques have been claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL), it can be assessed that ISIS militant group could be behind this attack.

The blast came only a day after a similar attack took place in the northern cities of Kunduz and Mazar-i-Sharif on April 21. The blast in Mazar-i-Sharif city targeted a Shia Hazara gathering at a mosque resulting in the death of at least 10 worshipers, while the second blast in Kunduz city was a roadside bomb attack that targeted a military vehicle carrying workers and mechanics. The blast resulted in six deaths and several were injured.

The Kunduz city blast on Friday was targeted at a Sunni Mosque and was the largest and deadliest one in the string of recent bombings in Afghanistan. It was also one of the biggest terrorist attacks since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

*^{People inspect the inside of a mosque following a bombing in Kunduz province northern Afghanistan on October 8, 2021. (Image Credit: AP)}*

Earlier on Friday, the Taliban security forces claimed that they have arrested the suspected Islamic State militant who was the mastermind behind the blast in Mazar-i-Sharif. The Balkh province police spokesperson Asif Waziri said that arrested militant Abdul Hamid Sangaryar was the key operator and mastermind behind the bombing attack in Mazar-i-Sharif.

“He played a key role in several attacks in the past and had repeatedly managed to escape, but this time we arrested him in a special operation,” Waziri said.

Taliban forces are making regular raids on suspected Islamic State hideouts, especially in Nangarhar province, a safe haven for the militant group and birthplace of Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), the local branch of Islamic State militants.

Taliban officials insist that their forces have defeated the Islamic State group, however, the ground situation amid the string of increasing bomb attacks gives a different picture.

Taliban and Islamic State have key ideological differences. Taliban is a Sunni Islamist group with a principle focus on keeping Afghanistan free from foreign occupation. Islamic State on the other hand is a hardline Islamist militant organization that is seeking to spread its caliphate from Turkey to Pakistan and beyond.