The militant group Islamic State has taken credit for a violent gun assault on a minority Shiite mosque located in western Afghanistan, resulting in the tragic deaths of six individuals on Monday.
Abdul Mateen Qani, the Interior Ministry spokesman, revealed on Tuesday morning that an unidentified armed assailant had targeted civilian worshippers at a mosque in Herat province’s Guzara district at approximately 9:00 pm the previous night.
The attack left six civilians dead and one injured, as per Qani’s announcement on the social media platform X.
Later on Tuesday, the regional branch of the Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the heinous act, stating that numerous gunmen had raided the mosque brandishing machine guns, a contrast to the official report of a single attacker.
Local witnesses shared that the mosque, nestled just south of the provincial capital Herat, catered to the minority Shiite community, and among the victims were an imam and a three-year-old child.
According to accounts, a group of three gunmen orchestrated the assault, with one positioned outside while two others barged into the mosque, indiscriminately firing upon the worshippers during prayer time.
Eyewitness Ibrahim Akhlaqi, the brother of the deceased imam, recounted, “One of them was outside, and two of them came inside the mosque, shooting the worshippers.” Another witness, Sayed Murtaza Hussaini, added, “Whoever was in the mosque has either been martyred or wounded.”
Despite the Taliban government’s assertions of safeguarding religious and ethnic minorities after assuming power in August 2021, concerns have been raised by rights groups regarding the effectiveness of these promises.
This incident joins a series of attacks by IS targeting Shiite communities, with the most chilling assault post-Taliban rule being the 2022 suicide bombing in Kabul that claimed the lives of 53 people, predominantly girls and young women.
While the Taliban regime has claimed to have eradicated IS presence in Afghanistan since the foreign troop withdrawal, the UN Security Council’s January report highlights ongoing recruitment efforts by the militant group, flagging the potential for threats beyond regional borders.
The Islamic State’s stronghold across Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia was also implicated in the deadly attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall concert venue in March, leaving over 140 individuals dead, marking Russia’s deadliest assault in two decades.
