ISIS blows up Sunni and Shiite mosques in Afghanistan

Aya Ezz

In Afghanistan, terrorist organizations have sanctioned the targeting of mosques and planting explosives to kill worshipers, be they Sunni or Shiite.

Kabul explosion

On Friday morning, June 12, a mosque in Kabul witnesses an explosion during Friday prayers. The Afghan Interior Ministry announced that at least four people were killed and many injured, although the exact number was yet to be determined.

The ministry noted that the imam of the mosque who was leading the Friday prayer, Azizullah Muflih, was among the dead.

ISIS

Last week, an ISIS-affiliate suicide bomber blew up a mosque in Kabul, killing seven people, and ISIS later claimed responsibility.

The Interior Ministry points to ISIS as being behind this attack, as it resembled ISIS tactics, while the Taliban does not often target mosques.

Since 2017, ISIS has carried out several mosque bombings, most notably bombing one of the largest mosques in the capital, Kabul, on March 13, 2017, killing nearly 30 people and injuring 20 others, according to a statement from the Interior Ministry at the time.

On June 15 of the same year, the terrorist organization claimed responsibility for the bombing of one of the largest historic Shiite mosques in Kabul, in which four people were killed.

Then, on October 21, 2017, ISIS blew up an old Shiite mosque in Kabul, killing 39 people and injuring many others. On the same day, a Sunni mosque was targeted in the same city, killing 29 people.

Stoking the fire

In a statement to the Reference, Abdul Khabir Atallah, a professor of political science, said that most of the mosques that ISIS had targeted in Afghanistan were Shiite, which are widespread in Kabul, adding that this is in order to stoke the fire of sectarian discord in Afghan society. Although the Taliban is a terrorist and extremist movement, it is not one of its tactics to bomb mosques, even if they are Shiite, he noted.