Multiple casualties in suicide attack on Shiite mosque

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March 25, 2018 11:56 AM

Two suicide attackers struck a Shiite mosque in Afghanistan Sunday, killing at least one person and wounding eight others, officials said, in the latest assault against the Muslim minority claimed by the Islamic State group.

The men stormed the grounds of the mosque in the western city of Herat, but security guards shot dead one of them. The other blew himself up before reaching the hall where worshippers were praying, provincial governor spokesman Jilani Farhad told AFP.

At least one worshipper was killed and eight others were wounded in the attack on Nabi Akram mosque, Farhad said, adding all the victims were civilians.

The casualty toll was confirmed by deputy police chief Aminullah Amin.

The area around the mosque was cordoned off by police and ambulances were seen rushing victims to hospitals in the city, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying via its propaganda arm Amaq: "An infiltrator attacked a Shiite husseiniya (mosque) in the Jaharso region in the city of Herat in western Afghanistan."

IS regularly targets Shiites in an attempt to stir up sectarian violence in the Sunni-majority country.

Its local franchise in Afghanistan claimed an attack in Kabul last Wednesday that killed at least 33 people and wounded dozens more, many of them teenagers.

A suicide bomber blew himself up among a crowd of people celebrating Nawrooz, the Persian new year holiday, in a heavily Shiite neighbourhood.

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