Six people were killed and another was injured in an attack on a mosque in Afghanistan’s Herat province, according to the country’s Taliban regime.
The attack occurred within a mosque situated in the Shahrak area of Herat’s Guzare district. Currently, no entity has claimed responsibility for the assault.
According to Abdul Mateen Qani, spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior, an unidentified assailant opened fire on worshippers within the mosque. Qani mentioned in a Pashto-language post on X (formerly Twitter) that additional details regarding the incident’s casualties would be provided later.
Though not explicitly stated in Qani’s announcement, Tolo News, citing sources, reported that the targeted mosque belonged to the Shia community. Shias, a minority within Afghanistan, have frequently faced attacks from Sunni groups like ISIS, particularly its regional affiliate ISKP, in recent years.
Earlier this month, an explosion near a Shia neighborhood in Kabul resulted in one fatality and three injuries. ISIS claimed responsibility for this attack. The ISKP, an ISIS affiliate, has been engaging in insurgency against the Taliban-led government since its ascent to power in 2021. Religious and ethnic minorities, such as Shias and Hazaras, have often been targeted by ISKP. In 2022, an ISIS bombing at a coaching center in Kabul’s Shia neighborhood resulted in the deaths of 56 people.
