Taliban pledge to step up safety as Shi’ite victims buried in Afghanistan By Reuters

KABUL (Reuters) -Taliban authorities pledged to step up safety at Shi’ite mosques as a whole bunch of individuals gathered on Saturday to bury the victims of the second Islamic State suicide assault on worshippers in every week.

Hardline Sunni group Islamic State claimed accountability for the assault on the Fatima mosque in Kandahar that noticed a bunch of suicide bombers shoot their manner into the mosque earlier than blowing themselves up among the many worshippers throughout Friday prayers.

A well being official mentioned the casualty toll from the assault stood at 41 lifeless and 70 wounded however may rise additional. “Among the wounded are in a essential situation and we try to switch them to Kabul,” he mentioned.

On Saturday, massive crowds gathered to bury the white-shrouded victims in a mass grave within the southern metropolis of Kandahar.

The top of Kandahar police mentioned items can be assigned to guard the Shi’ite mosques which have to date been guarded by native volunteer forces with particular permission to hold weapons.

“Sadly they might not shield this space and in future we’ll assign particular safety guards for the safety of mosques and Madrasas,” he mentioned in a press release posted on Twitter (NYSE:) by a Taliban spokesman.

The assault on the Fatima mosque, the biggest Shi’ite mosque in Kandahar, also referred to as the Imam Bargah mosque, got here every week after an analogous assault on a mosque within the northern metropolis of Kunduz, which killed as many as 80 individuals.

Assaults on Shi’ite mosques and targets related to the Hazara ethnic minority, who make up the largest Shi’ite group in Afghanistan, have been common occurrences underneath the previous Western-backed authorities.

There was deep shock because the assaults have continued for the reason that Taliban seized energy in August, tarnishing the motion’s declare to have introduced peace to Afghanistan after a long time of warfare.

Because the takeover, Islamic State has performed dozens of operations, from small scale assaults on Taliban targets to large-scale operations equivalent to Friday’s suicide bombing, killing scores of civilians.