Sun 17 October 2021:
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) authorities have pledged to step up security at Shi’ite mosques as hundreds of people gathered on Saturday to bury the victims of the second Islamic State (Daesh) suicide attack on worshippers in a week.
Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack on the Fatima mosque in Kandahar that saw a group of suicide bombers shoot their way into the mosque before blowing themselves up among the worshippers during Friday prayers.
A health official said the casualty toll from the attack stood at 41 dead and 70 wounded but could rise further.
On Saturday, large crowds gathered to bury the white-shrouded victims in a mass grave in the southern city of Kandahar.
The head of Kandahar police said units would be assigned to protect the Shi’ite mosques which have so far been guarded by local volunteer forces with special permission to carry weapons.
“We are trying our best to arrest all those responsible for the blast and hand them over to the concerned department,” Kandahar Province Commander, Malwy Abdul Ghafar Mohmadi, told reporters.
The attack on the Fatima mosque, the largest Shi’ite mosque in Kandahar, also known as the Imam Bargah mosque, came a week after a similar attack on a mosque in the northern city of Kunduz, which killed as many as 80 people.
Attacks on Shi’ite mosques and targets associated with the Hazara ethnic minority, who make up the biggest Shi’ite group in Afghanistan, were regular occurrences under the former Western-backed government.
Since the takeover, Daesh has conducted dozens of operations, from small scale attacks on IEA targets to large-scale operations such as Friday’s suicide bombing, killing scores of civilians.
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