Since the Taliban has taken over Afghanistan, the extremist IS group has continuously threatened to attack, despite the security improvements.
During a memorial service for the regional deputy governor of the Taliban, who was killed in an attack earlier this week, an explosion happened near a mosque in northern Afghanistan, according to Al Jazeera. At least 11 people were killed in the incident.
The blast occurred during the funeral for Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, the deputy governor of Badakhshan who died in a car bombing on Tuesday. Since the Taliban overthrew the US-backed government and put an end to their two-decade war in August 2021, security has significantly improved; nonetheless, the extremist IS group continues to pose a threat.
According to a statement from the interior ministry, more than 30 persons were hurt in the bomb that occurred at the burial for the acting governor of the northeastern Badakhshan province as “a great number of compatriots” gathered for a mosque prayer remembering Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi. According to Abdul Nafi Takor, the Taliban-appointed representative for the interior ministry, among those killed and more than 30 others injured in the blast outside Nabawi Mosque on Thursday was a former Taliban police official.Â
According to Takor, there is fear that the death toll could increase further. The Taliban government security forces had checkpoints set up around the funeral site in the morning, according to an AFP correspondent who was close to the explosion incident. People hurried onto the streets nearby when the explosion went off, and stores shuttered in fear as security forces surrounded the scene.
At a nearby hospital, the AFP correspondent spotted ten bodies on stretchers. Ahmadi was killed on Tuesday when a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-packed car into his car, according to the IS. In that attack, which also happened in Faizabad, the driver was also killed, and six other people were injured.
According to Moazuddin Ahmadi, the Afghan official in charge of information and culture, afiullah Samim, a former head of the Afghan police in Baghlan, was apparently killed in the explosion on Thursday. In a tweet, the late Afghan President Hamid Karzai criticized the incident and stated that it was “terrorism” and “against human and Islamic standards” to destroy mosques.
The incident was not immediately blamed on anyone. The car explosion was blamed on the militant ISIL (ISIS) group on Tuesday.
In a statement posted to Twitter, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) stated that it “unequivocally condemns this and a recent spate of appalling and indiscriminate attacks that have shown a total disregard for civilian lives.”
The Taliban authorities of Afghanistan, who have vowed to keep their country from being used as a base for international attacks, now face the highest security threat from the IS. Al Jazeera said the Taliban government has been conducting operations against ISIL militants after the group claimed responsibility for several significant strikes in populated areas.
In an attack in March, the organization claimed responsibility for the death of the governor of the northern Balkh province while targeting members of the Taliban government. Attacks on foreign embassies, minority religious groups, and Taliban government officials have all been linked to the IS.
