Islamic State attack kills 17 at Shiite mosque in northern Afghanistan

Afghanistan's Taliban-run administration has faced an insurgency by Islamic State militants, who have claimed a series of deadly attacks of late. However, there was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday's attack.

Kabul: A suicide attack by the Islamic Sate group at a Shiite mosque in northern Afghanistan killed at least 17 people on Friday, according to hospital officials and eyewitnesses, in a bloody reminder of the insecurity that remains in the country and has spread to Pakistan two years after the end of the US-led war.

The attack occurred around 1:30 p.m., just as hundreds had gathered at the mosque for Friday prayers in Pul-i-Khumri, the capital of Baghlan province.

The blast hit the Imam Zaman Mosque, the largest Shiite mosque in the city, and witnesses and Taliban officials said they believe the assault was carried out by a single suicide attacker.

“The explosion occurred in the midst of a crowd of worshippers,” said Mustafa Hashemi, the director of the province’s department for information and culture.

Disputing the death toll provided by hospital staff, Taliban officials said that only seven people were killed in the blast. Eyewitnesses who spoke to The New York Times said that dozens of people were injured in the attack.

Sayed Mujtaba Hashemi, whose father is the imam of the mosque, was kneeling in the last row of worshippers as his father was finishing his sermon, he said. Then, as prayers were about to begin, he heard a loud sound and was thrown to the ground.

When he opened his eyes, he saw people’s bodies splayed across the carpeted floor. Screams and wails filled the air. Some people began stumbling out of the building.

“As everyone left, one thought crossed my mind: Where is my father?” he said. He rushed to the pulpit and saw him, alive but with pieces of metal lodged into his neck and hand.

Hours later, the Islamic State affiliate in the region, known as the Islamic State Khorasan or ISIS-K, took responsibility for the attack, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks extremist organizations.

ISIS-K is a Sunni extremist group that was founded in 2015 and has targeted Shiite Muslims in Afghanistan, particularly those from the predominantly Shiite Hazara ethnic minority. Shiites make up around 10 per cent of Afghanistan’s population, the vast majority of which is Sunni.