At Least 3 Feared Dead As Suspected IS-K Terrorists Target Another Mosque In Afghanistan

Initial reports said that at least three people have been killed and 15 others have been injured in a suspected suicide bombing at a mosque during Friday prayers in Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan.

Qari Hanif, the government spokesman for Nangarhar Province, said the bomb appeared to have been planted inside the mosque in the town of Traili, located in the mountainous Spin Ghar area outside the provincial capital Jalalabad.

#UPDATE A blast at a mosque in Afghanistan's restive Nangarhar province on Friday caused fatalities and injuries, a Taliban official told AFP. pic.twitter.com/WwJyIrjfdl

¡ª AFP News Agency (@AFP) November 12, 2021

While there is no confirmation on the death toll, photos posted on social media showed three dead bodies, and the mosque's interior strewn with rubble and broken glass.

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No groups have so far claimed the responsibility for the attack, but the suspicion is on the involvement of the Islamic State of Khorasan Province, which has carried out similar bombings targetting Shia mosques in Afghanistan in recent weeks.

But unlike in the past incidents, this blast was carried out targeting worshippers in a Sunni Mosque.

Previous attacks

The earlier attacks came on successive Fridays last month, when IS suicide bombers and gunmen blasted worshippers from Afghanistan's Shiite Muslim minority, first in a mosque in the city of Kunduz, then one in the southern city of Kandahar.

Nangarhar has been a battleground for the Taliban and the IS-K as the two extremists groups have been fighting to control the province.

The IS-K which is an official affiliate of the IS was formed by some decedent Taliban leaders following the setbacks the group suffered after they were ousted from power.

Ever since the IS-K was formed it went on the offensive and at one point controlled more areas of Afghanistan than the Taliban.

However, a series of drones and airstrikes by the US-led NATO forces in 2018 had nearly wiped them out.

In recent months, as the Taliban marched towards Kabul, the IS-K also managed to regroup and is now posing the biggest threat to their rule.

Earlier this month, 19 people including Hamdullah Mokhlis, a member of the Haqqani network and an officer in the Badri Corps special forces were killed in an IS-K attack on Kabul's main military hospital.

He was the highest-ranking Talibani to be killed by the IS-K

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Taliban intelligence service told reporters in Kabul that the agency has arrested close to 600 IS members, including key figures and financial supporters. The spokesman, Khalil Hamraz, said at least 33 IS members have been killed in gun battles with Taliban security forces.

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