The jihadist group Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the two minibus bombings that killed at least two people in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, yesterday (Thursday), a week after a deadly attack on a Shiite mosque in the same city in northern Afghanistan.
"The targets apparently were Shiite passengers," Balh provincial police spokesman Asif Waziri told Agence France-Presse, adding that 13 other people were wounded because of the explosions."
These means of transport were operated by a Shiite minority organisation.
The detonation of the two bombs occurred minutes apart in two districts of the city, as many workers were returning home to break the Ramadan fast as night fell, Mr. Waziri.
"The enemies of Afghanistan are creating tensions and divisions among our people," he added."
Images uploaded to social media sites show one of the two minibuses in flames as Taliban carried victims to another vehicle to take them to hospitals.
The explosions came a week after the bombing of a Shia mosque in Mazar-e-Sharif, which killed 12 worshippers and injured 58 others.
Since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, overthrowing the mainly US-backed government, the number of bombings has decreased. But jihadists, particularly IS, continue to target those they consider heretics.
Thus, a bombing on April 22 hit a mosque of the Sufi minority during Friday prayers in Kunduz, also in northern Afghanistan. Official death toll: at least 36 dead, including children.
A few days earlier, explosions at a male seminary in a Shiite district of the Afghan capital Kabul killed six.
Afghan Shiites, the majority of whom are members of the Hazara community, representing between 10 and 20 percent of Afghanistan's 38 million people, have been targeted by ISIS for years.
Taliban officials assure that their forces have crushed IS. But analysts instead say the jihadist group continues to pose a major security risk in Afghanistan.
Taliban government spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told Agence France-Presse yesterday that several suspects have been arrested in recent attacks. He also noted that they were against targets where "adequate" security measures were not in place, such as mosques and schools, adding that "we have now reinforced the guarding of such locations."
Source: Proto Thema
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