A gunman attacked a mosque in western Afghanistan, killing six people. A government spokesman said Tuesday that the local Shia community had been targeted.
Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Kani said at 9:00 p.m. (1630 GMT) on Monday, “an unknown man opened fire on worshipers at a mosque” in Guzara district of Herat Province.
“Six civilians were martyred and one civilian was injured,” X said on the social media platform Tuesday morning.
Algerians said the mosque served the minority Shiite community in the district, south of the provincial capital Herat, and that an imam and a three-year-old child were among those killed.
It also claimed that three armed groups had carried out the attack, which contradicted the official account.
Ibrahim Ahlaqi, 60, the brother of the slain imam, said: “One of them went outside and two went inside the mosque and shot the congregation.” “In the middle of prayer.”
“Everyone who was in the mosque was martyred or injured,” said 23-year-old Syed Murtaza Hussaini.
The threat to the Islamic State
While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, the Islamic State group’s regional branch is the biggest threat in Afghanistan and often targets the Shiite community.
The Taliban government has promised to protect religious and ethnic minorities since returning to power in August 2021, but rights monitors say it has done little to fulfill that promise.
The most notorious attack by IS since the Taliban takeover was in 2022, when an attack on an education center killed at least 53 people, including 46 girls and young women.
Taliban officials blamed IS for attacks in Shiite neighborhoods in the capital, Kabul.
Afghanistan’s new rulers claim to have driven IS from the country and claim the group has found a safe haven since foreign forces withdrew.
Taliban leaders often cite death tolls after bombings and gunfire from other sources, or clearly reduce them to minimize security threats.
A UN Security Council report published in January said that ISIS attacks in Afghanistan had decreased due to “Taliban counter-terrorism efforts”.
But the report said IS still had “significant” recruitment in the country and the militant group had “the ability to pose a threat in the region and beyond”.
