Team News Riveting
In the bloodiest assault since US forces left Afghanistan, a suicide bomb attack on worshippers at a Shia Mosque in the north eastern of Kunduz killed at least 55 people on Friday,
The death toll was likely to increase drastically as scores of people from the minority community were wounded in the blast. Though no one has claimed the responsibility of the blast, it is seen as another design to further destabilise Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover.
The militant Islamic State (IS) group, bitter rivals of the Taliban, has repeatedly targeted Shias in Afghanistan to stir up sectarian violence. Shias make up roughly 20 per cent of the Afghan population. Many of them are Hazara, an ethnic group that has been heavily persecuted in Afghanistan for decades.
According to local security officials, over 300 hundred people were attending the Friday prayers when the suicide bomber blew him off. Graphic images shared on social media, which could not immediately be verified, showed several bloodied bodies lying on the floor. Pictures showed plumes of smoke rising into the air over Kunduz. Another video showed men shepherding people, including women and children, away from the scene even as frightened crowds thronged the streets.
Eyewitnesses said over one hundred worshippers were killed and wounded in the attack. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan also said initial reports indicated that over 100 people were killed and wounded in today’s blast inside a mosque in Kunduz.
Kunduz’s location makes it a key transit point for economic and trade exchanges with Tajikistan.
