In Afghanistan, an Islamic State attack against Shiites leaves fourteen dead

In central Afghanistan, at least 14 civilians were killed on Thursday 12 September in an attack claimed by the regional branch of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan (IS-K), according to a report announced on Friday by the Taliban authorities, one of the highest in recent months.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announced on Friday afternoon, nearly 24 hours after the attack in the predominantly Shiite province of Daikundi, that in addition to the civilians killed, this “barbaric attack” had done “Six more injured”.

If EI-K claimed responsibility during the night from Thursday to Friday “an attack carried out by soldiers of the caliphate in central Afghanistan”Mujahid, who regularly says Kabul has defeated Islamic State, does not name the attackers.

He describes them only as “enemies of humanity” and ensures that “Serious efforts are being made to find and test them”.

The Taliban authorities rarely make public the results of these attacks.

On Thursday afternoon, a local source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the attack had caused “fourteen dead and four injured”The Taliban Interior Ministry then limited itself to confirming “killed civilians” in an attack led by “armed men”Afghan outlet Tolo News also reported fourteen dead and four wounded, citing local sources.

The Taliban authorities rarely make public the results of these attacks by the Islamic State in Khorassan (IS-K) group.

Tolo and local sources said victims of the attack gathered to welcome pilgrims returning from Karbala, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest sites in central Iraq.

The special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, who is banned from entering the territory by the Taliban government, said “alarmed by the increase in attacks claimed by EI-K”.

In one year, IS-K planned twenty-one attacks in nine countries

In mid-August, ISIS claimed responsibility for a bomb attack that left at least one dead and a dozen wounded in a predominantly Shiite neighbourhood of Kabul. In early September, ISIS claimed responsibility for another attack, this time a suicide attack that left six dead and thirteen wounded, in front of the offices of the general prosecutor’s office in Kabul.

From March 2023 to March 2024, ISIS planned twenty-one attacks in nine countries, according to experts, up from eight the previous year.

In January, ISIS killed more than 90 people in a double attack in Kerman, Iran. ISIS’s deadliest attack left 145 dead in March 2024 at a Moscow concert hall.