IS responsible for deadly bomb attack in Afghanistan
October 12, 2016
'Islamic State' group's affiliate in Afghanistan has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack that killed 14 people at a mosque in northern Afghanistan. The attack was the second in two days of the festival of Ashura.
Image: Reuters/M. Ismail
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The blast killed at least 14 people during the Ashura ceremony in Afghanistan's northern province of Balkh on Wednesday, a government spokesman said.
"The explosion happened at the gate of the Shiite mosque in the centre of Balkh district (in Balkh province)," according to the provincial governor's spokesman Munir Ahmad Farhad, who added that 28 people had also been injured.
"The attack has nothing to with us, we are deeply affected by attack on civilians," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted. According to Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi, the assailant opened fire on worshippers at the shrine as they prayed. He was later shot dead.
Afghanistan Ashura Festival in KabulImage: Getty Images/AFP/S. Marai
The "Islamic State" (IS) also claimed responsibility for the twin attacks in the capital, Kabul, on Tuesday, killing up to 18 people and wounding dozens.
Gunmen entered the Karte Sakhi shrine near Kabul University late on Tuesday, firing at men, women and children as they fleed, witnesses said. The interior ministry said in statement that one of the men was wearing a suicide vest.
Another attacker entered a nearby mosque and took a number of people hostage as they were commemorating Ashura, the ministry said.
'Cowardly' atrocity
President Ashraf Ghani condemned as a "clear sign of a crime against humanity."
White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the attacks were "cowardly" and "clearly designed to stoke sectarian tension" in the country. State Department spokesman John Kirby also condemned the violence. The UN called the attack an "atrocity" and put the toll at 18, though the interior ministry later said it was 16.
"We commend the government and security forces of Afghanistan for their response to these attacks and their commitment to the peace, security, and prosperity of their country and a future for Afghanistan free of sectarian violence," he said.
Sectarian attacks have been relatively rare in Afghanistan, unlike neighboring Pakistan where violence - particularly by Sunni hardliners against the Shiite minority - has claimed thousands of lives over the past decade.
Ashura commemorates the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, who was assassinated in 680 and whose death laid the foundation for the faith practised by the Shiite community. For Shiites around the world, Ashura is a symbol of the struggle against oppression.
Under the Taliban, women were required to wear an all-covering burqa when venturing outside their homes. But there were times in Afghan history when they adopted a more Western clothing style, as these photos show.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Aspiring doctors
This picture, taken in 1962, shows two female medicine students at the University of Kabul listening to their professor as they examine a plaster showing a human body part. At that time, women played an active role in Afghan society. They also had access to education and were able to take up work outside home.
Image: Getty Images/AFP
Style on Kabul's streets
Two young women dressed in Western-style outfits are seen in this picture taken in 1962 outside the building of Radio Kabul in the country's capital city, Kabul. After the fundamentalist Taliban took over power in the mid-1990s, women were required to wear an all-covering burqa when in public.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Equal rights for all - not always
In the mid-1970s, female students were a common sight at Afghan education centers such as Kabul's Polytechnical University. But some 20 years later, women's access to education in the conflict-ridden country was completely shut down. And it changed only after the toppling of the Taliban regime in 2001. The right to education for both men and women was enshrined in the 2003 Afghan Constitution.
Image: Getty Images/Hulton Archive/Zh. Angelov
Computer science in its infancy
In this picture a Soviet instructor is seen teaching computing technology to Afghan students at Kabul's Polytechnical Institute. During the 10-year Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, a number of Soviet lecturers taught at Afghan universities.
Image: Getty Images/AFP
Students among themselves
This 1981 picture shows an informal gathering of female and male Afghan students in Kabul. In 1979, a Soviet invasion of land-locked Afghanistan led to a 10-year war. When the Soviets withdrew from the country in 1989, a civil war ensued which culminated in the Taliban's accession to power in 1996.
Image: Getty Images/AFP
Schools for all
This picture shows Afghan girls at a secondary school in Kabul at the time of the Soviet occupation. During the Taliban regime that followed just a few years later, women and girls were barred from attending school and denied access to education. They were also banned from taking up employment outside home.
Image: Getty Images/AFP
A two-class society
In this picture taken in 1981, a woman, unveiled and without a headscarf, is seen with her children. Scenes such as these have been rare ever since. Even almost 15 years after the collapse of the Taliban regime, women continue to struggle for equality in the male-dominated Afghan society. For instance, there is only one woman taxi driver in the entire country.
