ISIS members in Afghanistan – photo by PBS
Ayesha Tanzeem
VOA News
August 26, 2017
Afghan officials raised the death toll from a suicide attack on a Shi’ite mosque in Kabul Friday to at least 28 people.More than 50 others were wounded during Friday prayers.
Women, children and two police officers were among the victims.
Mourners gathered Saturday to bury the dead inside the mosque compound.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Two of four attackers blew themselves up at the gate of the Imam Zaman mosque and the others were shot dead by Afghan security forces.
Police cordoned off the area soon after the assault. Residents of the area reported hearing gunfire from inside the mosque.
Imam Zaman is one of the main Shi’ite mosques in the area and more people attend mosques on a Friday, the Muslim holy day of the week.
The attack came days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his new policy for Afghanistan in which he gave battlefield decision-making powers to his ground commanders, demanded Pakistan “immediately” change its behavior and stop providing havens to the Afghan Taliban, and asked the Afghan government to hasten reform and not take American support for granted.
Related