20 dead in Daesh attack on Kabul mosque

Afghan men comfort a man, after he heard his relatives were killed at the site of a suicide attack followed by a clash between Afghan forces and insurgents after an attack on a Shiite mosque in Kabul on Friday. (Reuters)

KABUL: At least 20 people were killed and 50 injured when a Daesh suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to a Shiite mosque in Kabul as worshippers gathered for Friday prayers.
Three other attackers wearing police uniforms threw grenades at the building in the Khair Khana area of the Afghan capital, as worshippers fled and others frantically searched for missing family members.
“The attackers are slaughtering people like sheep but there’s no one to go and rescue them,” Murtaza, a young boy whose parents were trapped inside, said as the attack took place. “A lot of people are on the ground and no one is trying to rescue them.”
There were two explosions; one when the suicide bomber blew himself up, and another nearly two hours later as police exchanged gunfire with the attackers. Police said on Friday evening they had secured the mosque and all four attackers, including the bomber, were dead.
Daesh admitted on social media that it had carried out the attack. Matiullah Kharoti, an Afghan analyst said, it was part of an effort to spark sectarian violence.
“An attack against holy sites is against all humanitarian and Islamic laws,” he said. “The enemies have used all sorts of methods for hitting and killing us in the past 40 years, especially in the last 16 years.
The attack is the latest against Shiites in Afghanistan, where both the Taliban and affiliates of Daesh are fighting against the government and US-led troops. Daesh has admitted all the attacks.
More than 30 worshippers were killed earlier this month when a group of attackers stormed a Shiite mosque in the western province of Herat, and a week later Daesh militants attacked a Shiite village in the north and killed more than 50 people. In a gesture of solidarity, many Sunnis went to Shiite mosques to offer prayers and to console the victims.
The attacks add to the pressure on President Ashraf Ghani’s government, which is facing internal rifts and relies on US military and financial support.
US president Donald Trump this week reversed his policy on Afghanistan and said he would support plans to increase the number of US troops there from about 8,500 to about 12,500.