Afghanistan Terrorism Watch

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At least 14 dead as blasts rock Mazar-i-Sharif and Kunduz city in Afghanistan​

Reuters
April 21, 2022

At least 14 people were killed by bomb blasts in Afghan cities on Thursday — including 10 at a mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif, the second attack against a Shia target this week.

The number of bombings in Afghanistan has dwindled since the Taliban returned to power in August, but the militant Islamic State group has claimed several since then.

The group also claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Grisly images of victims being carried to the hospital from Seh Dokan mosque were posted on social media.

The images, which could not be independently verified, showed a scene littered with broken glass.




“There are at least 25 casualties,” Zabihullah Noorani, head of Balkh province's information and culture department, told AFP.

A police official said 10 people were killed, and 15 wounded.

Separately, at least four people were killed and 18 wounded by a blast in Kunduz city.

Provincial police spokesman Obaidullah Abedi told AFP it was caused by a bicycle bomb targeting a vehicle carrying mechanics working for a Taliban military unit.

Afghanistan's Shia Hazara community, which makes up between 10 and 20 per cent of the country's 38 million people, has long been the target of attacks — some blamed on the Taliban and others on IS.

On Tuesday, two blasts outside a school in a Shia neighbourhood of Kabul killed at least six people and wounded 25 others.

No group has claimed responsibility for any of this week's attacks.

Since seizing power, the Taliban have regularly raided suspected IS hideouts in the eastern Nangarhar province.

Taliban officials insist their forces have defeated IS, but analysts say the militant group is a key security challenge.

It has claimed some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan in recent years.

In May last year at least 85 people — mainly girl students — were killed and about 300 wounded when three bombs exploded near their school in the Shia dominated Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood of Kabul.

No group claimed responsibility for that, but in October 2020 IS admitted a suicide attack on an educational centre in the same area that killed 24 people, including students.

In May 2020, the group was blamed for a bloody attack on a maternity ward of a hospital in the same neighbourhood that killed 25 people, including new mothers.

 

[ghazi52]

KABUL: An explosion at a Shia mosque in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif on Thursday killed at least 11 people, a health official said, one of a series of blasts around the country.

A separate blast caused at least 11 more casualties in Kunduz, another northern Afghan city, according to a provincial health official.

The explosions came during Ramazan and two days after blasts tore through a high school in a predominantly Shia Hazara area in western Kabul, killing at least six.

"A blast happened in 2nd district inside a Shia mosque," Mohammad Asif Wazeri, the spokesman for the Taliban commander in Mazar-e-Sharif told Reuters.

Zia Zendani, the spokesman for the provincial health authority, said 11 people had been killed and 32 wounded in the blast.

The Shia community, a religious minority in Afghanistan, is frequently targeted by militant groups, including Islamic State.

Hospitals in Kunduz had received 11 killed or wounded people in a separate explosion, according to Najeebullah Sahel, from Kunduz's provincial health authority.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said a roadside blast had targeted a van of military mechanics in Kunduz and said school students were among the wounded. He added another roadside blast in the capital, Kabul, had wounded three, including a child.

Richard Bennett, the United Nation's Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan on human rights, condemned the blasts.

"Today more explosions rocks Afghanistan... systematic targeted attacks on crowded schools and mosques calls for immediate investigation, accountability and end to human rights violations," he said in a Tweet.

A resident of Mazar-e-Sharif said she was shopping with her sister in a nearby market when she heard a large explosion and saw smoke rising from the area around the mosque.

"The glass of the shops was broken and it was very crowded and everyone started to run," the woman, who declined to be named, said.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers say they have secured the country since taking power in August, but international officials and analysts say the risk of a resurgence in militancy remains and the Islamic State militant group has claimed several attacks.

 

[ghazi52]

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Kunduz mosque attacked during Friday prayers​

BBC

The attack is the second in Kunduz in as many days

A bomb attack on a Sunni mosque in the city of Kunduz in Afghanistan has killed 33 people and injured 43 others, including children, officials say.

The attack on the Mawlawi Sekandar Sufi mosque is the second in as many days in the northern city.

It follows four attacks across Afghanistan on Thursday - all claimed by the Islamic State group (IS).

The Taliban say they have defeated IS but the group remains a key security challenge to Afghanistan's new rulers.

No-one has admitted carrying out Friday's attack in Kunduz, which came as worshippers gathered to pray.

A local shopkeeper told AFP news agency: "The sight at the mosque was horrifying."

 

[ghazi52]

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Blast tears through Kabul mosque, killing at least 10 worshippers​

AFP | Reuters
April 29, 2022

Onlookers stand next to an ambulance carrying victims near the site of a blast in Kabul on April 29. — AFP

A blast in the Afghan capital ripped through a Sunni mosque and killed at least 10 people on Friday, an interior ministry official said.

A wave of deadly bombings has rocked the country in the last two weeks of Ramazan — some claimed by the Islamic State group — killing dozens of civilians.

“Many worshippers were at the Khalifa Sahib mosque when the blast went off,” a survivor who gave his name as Ahmad told AFP. “Many victims were thrown off their feet.”

Mohammad Sabir, a resident in the area, said he had seen people being loaded into ambulances after the explosion. “The blast was very loud, I thought my eardrums were cracked,” he said.

Bloodied casualties were ferried in ambulances to a hospital in central Kabul but Taliban fighters barred journalists from accessing the facility.

“The blast occurred two hours after Friday prayers as worshippers were performing rituals,” interior ministry deputy spokesman Bismillah Habib told AFP, adding at least 15 people were injured.

Friday's blast came hours after Afghanistan's supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada praised the country's security apparatus in a message ahead of Eidul Fitr.

While he made no mention of the recent spate of bombings, he said Afghanistan had been able to build “a strong Islamic and national army,” as well as “a strong intelligence organisation”.

Several recent bombings have targeted the minority Shia community, but Friday's blast was at a Sunni mosque.

It comes a day after two bombs on separate minibuses killed at least nine people in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, targeting Shia passengers heading home to break their fast.

A bomb at a Shia mosque in the city a week earlier killed at least 12 worshippers and wounded scores more.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for several of the recent attacks.

 

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Mazar-i-Sharif (AFP): Three bombs tore through minibuses in Afghanistan’s northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Wednesday, killing at least nine people, police said.

“The bombs were placed on three minibuses in different districts of the city,” Balkh provincial police spokesman Asif Waziri told AFP, adding that 15 other people were wounded.

Another bomb exploded inside a mosque in the capital Kabul late on Wednesday, killing at least two people and wounding 10 others, the interior ministry said.

The ministry said the bomb was placed inside a fan in the mosque.

No group has so far claimed the four bomb attacks on Wednesday.

The number of bomb attacks have dropped across the country since the Taliban seized power last year in August, but several cities were rocked by bombings during the holy month of Ramadan.

 

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Minibus bomb attack kills four in Afghan capital: police​

Official says a team of Taliban security personnel have been deployed to the area to probe the incident

AFP
June 12, 2022

A Taliban patrol in Herat city. Photo: Anadolu Agency

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A bomb blast on a minibus killed at least four people and injured several others in the Afghan capital on Saturday, police said.

The explosion in an eastern district of Kabul was the latest in a series of deadly attacks that have rocked Afghanistan in recent months, a little under a year since the Taliban takeover.

A team of Taliban security personnel had been deployed to the area to investigate the bombing, police spokesperson Khalid Zadran told AFP.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the bombing that occurred in a district mainly inhabited by members of the Pashtun community.

While the number of bombings has fallen across the country since the Taliban seized power in August, attacks have ticked up recently.

Dozens of civilians were killed in Kabul and other cities in primarily sectarian attacks during the holy month of Ramazan, which ended on April 30 in Afghanistan, with some claimed by the Islamic State group.

Many of those attacks targeted the Hazaras and Sufi communities.
Some of the bombings struck minibuses ferrying passengers from offices or markets to their homes.

But the deadliest attack during Ramazan came in the northern city of Kunduz, where a bomb targeting Sufi worshippers tore through a mosque on April 22.
At least 33 people were killed in that blast and scores more were wounded.
The regional branch of IS in Afghanistan has repeatedly targeted minorities such as Sufis, who follow a mystical branch of Islam.

 

[RescueRanger]

An IED in a Mercedes’ sedan has killed 3 and injured countless others in Budkhak square, Kabul - AP Wire!

 

[ghazi52]

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Two airport workers killed in Afghanistan bus ambush: official​

AFP
12 Jun, 2022

KABUL: Unidentified gunmen fired at a bus ferrying airport employees in northern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing at least two people and wounding six others, a senior police official said.

The bus was ambushed by two gunmen on its way to the Mazar-i-Sharif airport, Balkh provincial police spokesman Mohammad Asif Waziri told AFP.

“The vehicle came under attack when the technical team was on its way to the airport,” Waziri said.

The ambush was the latest in a series of deadly attacks that have hit Afghanistan in recent months.

Foreign airlines have still not resumed flights to Kabul and other Afghan cities since the Taliban seized power in August, citing security concerns for their crew and passengers.

While Taliban fighters provide security at all Afghan airport terminals, a UAE firm has been tasked with providing ground handling and passenger screening services at several facilities.

Since the Taliban’s return to power, the country has faced an acute shortage of professionals in a wide array of fields, including technical staff for the country’s airports.

While levels of violence in Afghanistan have fallen since the Taliban returned to power, bombings and gun attacks have ticked up recently.

On Saturday, a bomb blast targeting a minibus in the capital Kabul killed at least four people and injured several others.

Dozens of civilians were killed in Kabul and other cities – primarily in sectarian attacks – during the holy month of Ramadan, with some attacks claimed by the Islamic State group.

 

[ghazi52]

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Attack on Sikh temple in Afghan capital Kabul wounds 2​

Saturday's explosion follows a blast on Friday in the northern city of Kunduz at a mosque that killed one

Reuters
June 18, 2022

An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier looks out while standing on a Humvee vehicle at Bagram Air Base after all US and NATO troops left, some 70km north of Kabul, July 2, 2021. PHOTO: AFP

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KABUL: At least two people were wounded in an attack on a Sikh temple in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday morning, officials said.

"There were around 30 people inside the temple. We don't know how many of them are alive or how many dead. The Taliban are not allowing us to go inside, we don't know what to do," the temple official, Gornam Singh, told Reuters.

A Taliban interior spokesman said two were injured after attackers attempted to drive a car laden with explosives into the area. The vehicle detonated before reaching its target, and Taliban authorities were securing the site, he said.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the blast.

Local broadcaster Tolo aired footage showing heavy grey fumes of smoke rising from the area.
Afghanistan's Taliban rulers say they have secured the country since taking power in August, but international officials and analysts say the risk of a resurgence in militancy remains. Multiple attacks have taken place in recent months, with some claimed by the Islamic State militant group.

Sikhs are a tiny religious minority in largely Muslim Afghanistan, comprising around 300 family members before the fall of the country to the Taliban. Many had left the country in the wake of the takeover, according to community members and media reports.

The Sikh community, like other religious minorities, has been the continual target of violence in Afghanistan. An attack claimed by the Islamic State at another temple in Kabul in 2020 killed 25.
India's foreign ministry was "deeply concerned" about reports of the attack. "We are closely monitoring the situation and waiting for further details on the unfolding developments," foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said in a statement.

Saturday's explosion follows a blast on Friday in the northern city of Kunduz at a mosque that killed one and injured two, according to authorities.

 

[ghazi52]

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Afghanistan gurdwara attack: Sikhs say 'We don't feel safe'​

By Secunder Kermani
BBC Pakistan & Afghanistan Correspondent

The attack on a Sikh prayer site in the Afghan capital, Kabul, began early in the morning.
Militants opened fire outside the fortified doors leading to the compound housing a Sikh gurdwara, as well as the homes of members of the community.

The assailants killed the security guard, and armed with grenades they managed to make their way inside, whilst Taliban members stationed at nearby checkpoints rushed after them.
"My house is just in front of the gurdwara, as soon as I heard firing I looked out the window, people were saying attackers are inside," Kuljit Singh Khalsa told the BBC. "It was chaos, then all of a sudden there was a blast from outside."

A bomb hidden inside a car, parked next to a Taliban checkpost, had been detonated, killing the unit's commander and ripping through the surrounding shops and homes.
The attack had begun around half and hour before daily morning prayers were due to start. "If it had been later, there would've been even more people inside," Mr Khalsa said.

Afghanistan was once home to tens of thousands of Sikhs and Hindus, but decades of conflict have seen the number dwindle to a tiny handful.
In recent years, those who have remained have been repeatedly targeted by the local branch of Islamic State (IS) militant group.
In 2018, a suicide bomber struck a gathering in the eastern city of Jalalabad, whilst another gurdwara was attacked in 2020.
"At the time of the attack in Jalalabad, there were around 1,500 Sikhs, after that people thought, 'We can't live here'," Sukhbir Singh Khalsa said. More left after the attack in 2020, he, added, and by the time the Taliban took power last year, there were less than 300 Sikhs. Now there are just around 150.
"All our historical gurdwaras have been martyred already, and now the only one that was left has been, too."

Image caption,
The site was hit by a bomb early in the morning

Image caption,
The attack began half an hour before morning prayers
So far, there has been no claim of responsibility but it appears likely that IS was also behind this latest attack.

Afghanistan's Shia and Sufi Muslim minorities have also repeatedly been targeted by the group.
IS is much less powerful than the Taliban and does not control any territory, but has been responsible for some of the deadliest attacks in the country's history.
Overall, levels of violence in Afghanistan have fallen dramatically since the Taliban returned to power - ending their insurgency - but IS is undermining the Taliban's promise to have finally brought security to the nation.
Khalid Zadran, a spokesman for Kabul's police force, told the BBC that targeting civilians showed the "cowardly" nature of the attackers.
"Our comrades have sacrificed their lives for the Sikh community, it is their right under an Islamic state to be protected," he added.
All the attackers were killed around three hours after the assault began, during which time intense gunfire and multiple explosions could be heard. At least one Sikh man and one member of the Taliban's security forces were killed.

Wandering through the still smoking wreckage of the Gurdwara, Sikh community members said they were grateful for the Taliban's help in bringing the attack to an end, but that they did not feel safe and wanted to leave the country.
"We've appealed a lot to the Indian government, to find a way to give us visas, we don't want to live here anymore," said Sukhbir Singh Khalsa.
"Those of us left here are only here because we don't have visas, no-one wants to stay here. This has happened now, tomorrow it will happen again, and then again after that."

 

[ghazi52]

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Terrorists attack gurdwara in Kabul again​

This was the third bomb attack during the ongoing year on a Sikh religious place in the Afghan capital

APP
July 28, 2022

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ISLAMABAD: Terrorists once again carried out a bomb attack on a gurdwara, the Sikh religious place, in Kabul on Thursday.
According to the president of the Gurdwara Gurnam Singh, the bomb was placed in a bag in a shop of the complex nearby. This was the third bomb attack during the ongoing year on a gurdwara in Kabul.
A month ago, a gurdwara was attacked and Da’ish-Khorasan accepted responsibility for the attack.
Da’ish has deep links with the Indian agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). Dozens of Sikhs and the Taliban had lost their lives in the attack.
Another gurdwara was attacked at the beginning of this month in which one Sikh and two Afghans were killed.
The repeated attacks of terrorists on the Sikh community in Afghanistan were seemingly linked to rising attacks on Sikhs in other parts of the world and the recent referendums for Khalistan held in western countries.
Also read: Attack on Sikh temple in Afghanistan's capital Kabul kills two
According to analysts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Indian government was feeling uncomfortable with the participation of the Sikh community in a referendum for the creation of a separate country comprising some of the states in India.
New Delhi had activated the terrorist cells under the RAW to stop the creation of a Sikh state in India and engender a sense of insecurity by targeting Sikhs all across the world.
According to the analysts, the latest attack on the gurdwara in Kabul was linked to the struggle of the Sikh community for achieving their separate country Khalistan.

 

[ghazi52]

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KABUL: An explosion went off inside Kabul’s main cricket stadium during a domestic league match on Friday, injuring four people, an official of Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) said.

“The match was going on between two teams in Shpageza League, and during the match a blast happened; four civilians in the crowd have been injured,” the Chief Executive of ACB, Nassib Khan, said in a statement.

 

[ghazi52]

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Blast hits Afghan capital Kabul, at least 22 injured​

Reuters
August 6, 2022

KABUL: A bomb exploded in a busy shopping street in Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Saturday and at least 22 people were injured, hospital officials and witnesses said.

The blast occurred in a western district of the city where members of the Shia community regularly meet.

Video footage posted online showed ambulances rushing to the scene, which is also near bus stations.

A spokesman for the Taliban interior ministry said an investigation team was at the blast site to help the wounded and assess casualties.

No militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

On Friday, at least eight people were killed and 18 injured in a blast in Kabul carried out by Islamic State.

IS does not control any territory in Afghanistan but does have deadly sleeper cells that have been targeting religious minorities in the country as well as Taliban patrols.

Taliban authorities, who took over Afghanistan in August last year after a two-decade insurgency, have said they would provide more protection for Shia mosques and other facilities.

 

[ghazi52]

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Prominent Taliban cleric Rahimullah Haqqani killed in suicide blast in Kabul​

Web Desk
11 Aug, 2022

Source: Taliban


KABUL – Influential Taliban cleric, Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani, was killed in a suicide attack in a seminary in Afghanistan’s Kabul, a spokesperson for the Taliban administration confirmed Thursday.

The attacker reportedly blew explosives placed in a prosthetic leg and killed Rahimullah Haqqani, who was considered the highest profile figure to have been killed since the Taliban took power.

Taliban spokesperson Bilal Karimi announced that cleric Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani was ‘martyred’ in a cowardly attack by enemies.

Taliban spokesperson called Haqqani’s death a very huge loss for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. It was reported that ISIS was behind the terror incident.

Reports suggest that Haqqani previously survived terror attacks, including a large blast in Peshawar in 2020 which was later claimed by Daesh that killed at least seven people.

 

[Mohammad_2]

He was a suicide recruit himself. He got what he wanted.