Afghanistan mosque ‘targets Shiite’ IS terrorist attack

[아시아경제 김진호 기자] Afghanistan’s Shiite mosque has been bombed by suicide for the second week in a row. Shi’ites are a minority sect, accounting for only 10-15% of Afghanistan’s population.

According to major foreign media on the 17th, the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), an extremist terrorist group, recently carried out a series of terrorist attacks at a Shiite mosque.

IS-K, the Afghan branch of ISIS, committed suicide bombings at a Shiite mosque in Kunduz in northern Kunduz on the 8th of this month and at a Shiite mosque in Kandahar in the south on the 15th, killing about 100 people each.

Both suicide bombings are said to have been aimed at the time of the ‘Friday Worship’, when the largest number of believers gather at the mosque. It is analyzed that the Muslim men were trying to make it mandatory to attend a joint service held at a mosque at lunch on Friday.

IS-K claimed responsibility for both attacks by disclosing how the gang members detonated the bombs.

Meanwhile, immediately after the attack, the Taliban authorities promised protection, including increased security, for the Shiite mosque. A Taliban-appointed Kandahar police chief said: “Unfortunately, it failed to protect[the Shiites]and in the future we will have special guards at mosques and Islamic schools.”

By Kim Jin-ho, staff reporter rplkim@asiae.co.kr