Bombs exploded two minibuses in Mazar-e Charif, a week after a deadly attack on a Shiite mosque of this city in northern Afghanistan.
Le Monde
The Islamic State group (IS) claimed two bomb attacks against two minibuses which left at least nine dead on Thursday, April 28, in Mazar-E Charif, maintaining a climate of terror in this city in the north of the ‘Afghanistan.
“The targets seem to be Shiite passengers,” said Balkh’s provincial police spokesperson, AFP), ASIF Waziri, adding that thirteen people had been injured in the explosions.
These two blasts occurred a few minutes apart in different districts of the city, while the workers returned home to break the Ramadan fast, said Waziri. “The enemies of Afghanistan create tensions and divisions within our people,” he added.
Images broadcast on social networks showed one of the minibus in flames, while Taliban gave off victims of the other vehicle to transport them to hospitals. These explosions occurred a week after a bomb attack in a Shiz-e Charif Shiite mosque, which killed at least twelve faithful and injured 58.
a reinforcement of the necessary security
Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August after having reversed the authorities supported by the United States, the number of bomb attacks decreased but the jihadists and the IS continued their Attacks against targets they deem heretics.
Another bomb attack had struck, on April 22, a mosque of the Soufie minority during Friday prayer in Kunduz in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 36 people including children. A few days earlier, explosions in a school of boys from a Shiite district of Kabul, had left six dead.
Shiite Afghans, mostly from the Hazara community which constitutes between 10 and 20 % of the 38 million inhabitants of Afghanistan, have long been the target of the Islamic State (IS). Taliban officials insist that their forces have defeated the Islamic State group, but analysts believe that this jihadist organization still represents a major danger in terms of security in Afghanistan.
The Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP on Thursday that several arrests were made in connection with recent attacks. “These attacks aimed at places that were not sufficiently secure, such as mosques and a school, but now we have strengthened security in such places,” he added.