INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Muslims and had all the hallmarks of a deadly Islamic State affiliate known as Islamic State in Khorasan Province, or IS-K.The worst of the
three attacks occurred in northern Mazar-e-Sharif where at least 10 worshippers were killed as they knelt in prayer, said Dr
Ghawsuddin Anwari, head of the main hospital in northern Mazar-e-Sharif
They were brought in ambulances and private cars.The explosion at the Sai Doken mosque in northern Mazar-e-Sharif occurred as Muslims mark
the holy month of Ramadan, when the faithful fast from sunrise to sunset.Earlier Thursday in the capital, Kabul, a roadside bomb exploded
minority Shiite Muslims.Two days earlier in the same area, multiple explosions targeting educational institutions killed at least six
people, mostly children, and wounded 17 others.A third explosion Thursday, this one in northern Kunduz province, struck a vehicle carrying
Taliban rulers in the first months following their sweep to power.The IS affiliate, which has been operating in Afghanistan since 2014, is
Following their August takeover, the Taliban launched a sweeping crackdown against the IS headquarters in eastern Afghanistan.Meanwhile,
advocates for the minority Hazaras called for a stop to the killings
Most Hazaras are Shiite Muslims, despised by Sunni Muslim radicals like the Islamic State group, and discriminated against by many in the
Sunni-majority country.The Islamic State affiliate has previously targeted schools, particularly in the Shiite-dominated Dasht-e-Barchi
In May last year, months before the Taliban took power in Kabul, more than 60 children, mostly girls, were killed when two bombs were
detonated outside their school, also in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood.Dasht-e-Barchi and other parts of western Kabul are houses to the
Shiite minorities of Afghanistan which have mostly been targeted by the Islamic State affiliate loyalists, however, no one has claimed
credit for the recent explosions.Source: The Associated Press____--Agencies
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://adaderana.lk
