2021 Kunduz mosque bombing | |
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Part of the Islamic State–Taliban conflict and the 2021 Afghanistan attacks | |
Location | Gozar-e-Sayed Abad Mosque, Kunduz, Afghanistan |
Coordinates | 36°43′41″N68°52′35″E / 36.72806°N 68.87639°E |
Date | 8 October 2021 (UTC+04:30) |
Target | Shia worshippers |
Attack type | Suicide bombing |
Deaths | 50+ [1] |
Injured | 143 [1] |
Perpetrators | Islamic State – Khorasan Province [2] |
Motive | Taliban support for Chinese expulsion of Uyghurs, Chinese repression of Uyghurs in Xinjiang |
On 8 October 2021, an ISIS-K suicide bombing occurred at the Shia Gozar-e-Sayed Abad Mosque in the Afghan city of Kunduz. [3] [4] Over 50 people were killed, and another 100 were injured, but according to an estimate by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, more than 100 people were killed and wounded. [5]
Since 2015, an affiliate of the Islamic State, the Islamic State – Khorasan Province, have carried out attacks in Afghanistan. The Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021; ISIS–K attacks since then include a bombing at the Kabul International Airport in which 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops were killed. [6]
The explosion took place during the weekly Friday noon-time prayer service at the Gozar-e-Sayed Abad Mosque. [7] Witnesses stated that they were praying at the time of the explosion and noticed many bodies and blood on the floors as they were being evacuated from the scene. [8] Bodies of the dead and injured were taken to the nearby hospital where distraught family members wait at the entrance. After the attack, smoke filled the mosque building and rose over the city. [1] Photos and videos of the scene posted on social media showed blood splattered on the floor and walls of the mosque. The bodies of victims were also seen in uploaded medias. [9]
An initial assessment by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan estimated over 100 individuals may have been killed. The local Kunduz Provincial Hospital reported 35 deaths and more than 50 injuries. Twenty fatalities were reported from Médecins Sans Frontières. [10] According to a Taliban official, there were 100 victims, adding that most were dead. [11] The official death toll provided to media outlets is 50, and 143 others were injured. [12] [1] Local health officials feared the death toll could rise to as high as 80. [2]
The Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) has claimed responsibility for the blast, and confirmed via a Telegram channel that a suicide bomber had detonated the explosive vest in the crowded mosque during Friday prayers. According to the ISIS-K, the bomber was a Uyghur who targeted both Shiites and the Taliban for their purported willingness to appease China by expelling Uyghurs. [2] Most militant Uyghur Muslims in western China and eastern Afghanistan are believed to belong to the Turkistan Islamic Party. [13]
The United Nations has condemned the attack, adding that it is part of a string of attacks at places of worship. Less than a week earlier, an attack at the Id Gah Mosque killed five people. [14]
The Taliban security chief in Kunduz released a statement that they pledge to provide security to Shiite Muslims, and that such an attack "would not happen again". [15] An inquiry into the blast was also underway, according to the deputy police chief for Kunduz province. [6]
Ned Price, the spokesperson for the United States Department of State said the Biden administration condemned the attack, adding that the "Afghan people deserve a future free of terror". [16]
On 15 October 2021, an ISIS–K suicide bomber killed 65 people at a Shia mosque in Kandahar.
The Taliban insurgency began after the group's fall from power during the 2001 War in Afghanistan. The Taliban forces fought against the Afghan government, led by President Hamid Karzai, and later by President Ashraf Ghani, and against a US-led coalition of forces that has included all members of NATO; the 2021 Taliban offensive resulted in the collapse of the government of Ashraf Ghani. The private sector in Pakistan extends financial aid to the Taliban, contributing to their financial sustenance.
The 2011 Afghanistan Ashura bombings were a pair of bombings in the Afghan capital of Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif. The Kabul suicide bombing took place at around noon local time, on the day when Muslims commemorate Ashura, an annual holy day throughout the Muslim world particularly by the Shi'a Muslims.
The following lists events that happened during 2015 in Afghanistan.
The following lists events that happened during 2016 in Afghanistan.
Shia Muslims have been persecuted by the Islamic State, an Islamic extremist group, since 2014. Persecutions have taken place in Iraq, Syria, and other parts of the world.
Events in the year 2017 in Afghanistan.
Events in the year 2018 in Afghanistan.
The Islamic State–Taliban conflict is an ongoing armed conflict between the Islamic State and the Taliban in Afghanistan. The conflict escalated when militants who were affiliated with Islamic State – Khorasan Province killed Abdul Ghani, a senior Taliban commander in Logar province on 2 February 2015. Since then, the Taliban and IS-KP have engaged in clashes over the control of territory, mostly in eastern Afghanistan, but clashes have also occurred between the Taliban and IS-KP cells which are located in the north-west and south-west.
In May 2020, a series of insurgent attacks took place in Afghanistan, starting when the Taliban killed 20 Afghan soldiers and wounded 29 others in Zari, Balkh and Grishk, Helmand on 1 and 3 May, respectively. On 12 May, a hospital's maternity ward in Kabul and a funeral in Kuz Kunar (Khewa), Nangarhar were attacked, resulting in the deaths of 56 people and injuries of 148 others, including newborn babies, mothers, nurses, and mourners. ISIL–KP claimed responsibility for the funeral bombing, but no insurgent group claimed responsibility for the hospital shooting.
In a continuation of previous attacks by the Taliban in May and June, multiple clashes between Afghan security forces and the Taliban were reported. They carried out several attacks throughout Afghanistan, resulting in multiple fatalities on both sides. Both the Taliban and government forces have accused each other responsibility over the recent surge in violence across Afghanistan. The attacks come despite the signing of a peace deal with the U.S. in February that was intended to put an end to the war.
On 15 October 2021, a suicide bombing occurred at the Imam Bargah Mosque, also known as Fatima Mosque, a Shia mosque during Friday prayers in Kandahar, Afghanistan, killing at least 65 people and wounding more than 70 others.
On 21 April 2022, a powerful bomb rocked the Shia Seh Dokan mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif, Balkh Province, Afghanistan killing at least 31 people and injuring more than 87 others. The Islamic State – Khorasan Province claimed responsibility via Telegram.
On April 21, 2022, several separate explosions rocked different parts of Afghanistan. The first explosion occurred at the biggest Shia Muslim Seh Dokan mosque in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan. Over 31 people were killed and another 87 were injured in the mosque explosion. Another explosion targeted a vehicle exploded near a police station Kunduz city, leaving 4 dead and 18 injured. A mine planted explosion hit a van of the military in Khogiani killing four Taliban members and wounding a fifth. The roadside bomb wounded two children in the Niaz Beyk area of Kabul. Islamic State (ISIL) has claimed several attacks including the bombing of the Seh Dokan mosque.
A suicide bomber attacked a mosque in Afghanistan's northeastern Kunduz province on Friday, killing scores of worshippers .... Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack that state-run Bakhtar news agency said had killed 46 people and wounded 143.
The United Nations mission to Afghanistan said in a tweet the blast killed and wounded more than 100 people.
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