- An explosion in a mosque in Afghanistan killed at least three people.
- The attack occurred during Friday prayers in Spin Ghar district.
- No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Officials said that an explosion in a mosque in Afghanistan’s turbulent Nangarhar province killed at least 3 people and injured 15 others. This is a hotbed of Islamic State activities.
The bombing-which has not yet been claimed by any organization-highlighted one of the many challenges facing the new Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which the United Nations warned that the country is also on the brink of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
It happened during Friday prayers in the Spingar area of the eastern province near the border with Pakistan.
A Taliban official told AFP: “I can confirm an explosion in a mosque in Spin Ghar district during Friday prayers. There were casualties.”
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Local elder and activist Wali Mohamed told AFP that a bomb appeared to be hidden in a speaker near the imam’s podium.
He said that when the speaker was turned on to make an azaan sound-the call to begin the prayer ceremony-the device detonated.
“So far, 3 people have died and 15 others have been injured,” a doctor at the local hospital told AFP.
The Islamic State Khorasan is a local branch of the jihadist organization. It first appeared in Nangarhar and was officially recognized by the central leadership of the organization in 2015.
The organization is relatively small but influential in Afghanistan, and is responsible for some of the most deadly attacks in the country in recent years, killing civilians in mosques, shrines, public squares and even hospitals.
But it failed to occupy any territory in the region and suffered huge losses due to military operations led by the Taliban and the United States.
Although both IS and the Taliban are hardline Sunni radical Islamic organizations, their differences on religious and strategic issues have led to fierce battles between the two.
Since the Taliban regained power in August, IS has claimed responsibility for a series of bloody attacks, including an attack at Kabul Airport in which the United States and other countries rushed to evacuate their citizens and Afghan allies from the country.
Among the dozens of people killed in action, there were 13 American soldiers. This is the largest single-day loss the Pentagon has suffered in Afghanistan since 2011.
In the most recent attack, IS fighters attacked the Kabul National Military Hospital in early November, killing at least 19 people and injuring more than 50 others.
The Taliban did not have the complex intelligence collection and surveillance of IS-K deployed by foreign troops with little external assistance.
But experts say that they understand the enemy and the terrain and can use organizations such as al-Qaida and the frightening Haqqani network to challenge the organization.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid recently denounced them as “not a big threat.”
As security challenges arise, the United Nations has repeatedly warned that Afghanistan is on the brink of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
More than half of the countries face “serious” food shortages, and the upcoming winter is forcing millions of people to choose between migration and hunger.
