IS claims responsibility for suicide attack on Shia mosque in Afghanistan

KABUL: The militant Islamic State group on Saturday claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a crowded Shi’ite mosque in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar that killed at least 41 people and wounded scores more.

In a statement released on its Telegram channels, the jihadist group said that two suicide bombers carried out separate attacks on different parts of the mosque while worshippers prayed inside.

“The first suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest in a mosque hallway, while the second suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest in the mosque’s center,” IS-K said in the statement.

Islamic State’s news agency Amaq in a statement gave the names of the attackers as Anas al-Khurasani and Abu Ali al-Baluchi, both Afghan nationals.

The attack came a week after a bombing claimed by Islamic State affiliate killed more than 60 people at a Shia mosque in northern Afghanistan, raising fears that IS — an enemy of both the Taliban and the West — is expanding its foothold in Afghanistan.

UK-based conflict analysis firm ExTrac said Friday’s assault was the first by IS in Kandahar, and the fourth mass casualty massacre since the Taliban took Kabul.

Taking to AFP, ExTrac researcher Abdul Sayed said the attack was “challenging the Taliban claims of holding control on the country. If the Taliban can’t protect Kandahar from an IS attack, how could it protect the rest of the country?”

In the wake of the explosions, Kandahar police chief Maulvi Mehmood said “a brutal attack has been witnessed on a Shia mosque as a result of which a huge number of our countrymen have lost their lives”.

Hafiz Abdulhai Abbas, director of health for Kandahar, told AFP 41 people had been killed about 70 wounded, according to hospital information.