62 CIVILIANS KILLED IN TWO ATTACKS ON MOSQUES IN AFGHANISTAN

On October 20, a suicide attack hit the Shiite Zaman Mosque in Dasht-e-Barchi area of the Afghan capital, Kabul city, according to Afghan sources.

The Afghanistan Ministry of Interior Affairs confirmed in an official statement that 39 civilians were killed, and 45 others were injured in the attack.

The Afghan Tolo news TV channel reported that ISIS announced that it was behind the attack on Zaman Mosque. However, the ISIS-linked news agency Amaq didn’t say that ISIS claimed responsibility for it.

Meanwhile in the central province of Ghor, another suicide bomber targeted a Sunni Mosque in Daleema district, according to Afghan sources.

Mohammad Iqbal Nezami, a spokesman for Ghor province police, said that 33 civilians were killed in the suicide attack.

Nezami also said that the suicide bomber was targeting a local commander from the anti-Taliban Jamiat party. The Taliban did not claim responsibility for the suicide attack on the Ghor mosque yet. However Afghan sources believe that the attack was planned by it.

Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani condemned the attacks on Kabul and Ghor mosques in an official statement. Ghani said that the two attacks are “inhuman and against the values of Islam”.

“the terrorists have once again staged bloody attacks but they will not achieve their evil purposes and sow discord among the Afghans,” Ghani said in the statement.

Afghanistan’s president added that these nefarious acts will not yield any result and will not affect the unity of Afghans. Ghani also promised to “eliminate the terrorists who target Afghans of all religions and tribes”.

The two attacks come two days only after the Taliban killed more than 40 soldiers of the Afghan Army in a single attack in Kandahar province. This confirms again that the Afghan security system is still incapable of countering threats posed by ISIS or the Taliban even with the US help.

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