Afghanistan Times
Related Articles
AT News
KABUL: The unrelenting war has continued to take the lives of innocent Afghans, including the women and children in the past four decades. The Afghan masses have been bearing the brunt of war that no end sees in sight. This war is turning more vicious as even did not spare worshippers in the holy places.
At least 170 worshippers were killed in 17 armed attacks targeted mosques, gurudwaras and other worship places. 272 others were wounded during these ferocious attacks reported by the Independent Human Rights Commission since last October. Targeting attacks on religious figures was part of it.
According to the commission, five prayer leaders and 14 children were among the dead and 22 more children were among the injured.
The deadliest one was an attack carried out by Daesh terrorists against a mosque in Nangarhar province, in which 64 civilians were killed and 34 others, including five children were wounded in October 2019.
According to the report, another attack was on a Sikh worship place (gurudwara) in an old part of Kabul city, 25 worshippers including women and children were killed and 12 injured. The gurudwara attack was also carried out by Daesh.
Bombing inside a mosque in Kabul’s Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood, killed Ayaz Neyzai, an outspoken cleric and wounded five worshippers in May.
Days after the attack on Wazir Akbar Khan mosque, a bomb blast in the Sher Shah Suri mosque, killed the prayer leader and another civilian, while 15 people were wounded.
The human rights commission says that most of the victims of these attacks are worshippers, children and religious scholars.
Targeting worshipers or to attack the holy places is a new thread, worsening the situation in the wake of ongoing peace talks with the Taliban.
Peace is the priority, but the one which all these values be protected, said a war expert on condition of anonymity. He believes that these targets are only to defame the Islam, and at somehow create fear among the prayers to restrain from coming to mosques and other holy places. The enemies are trying to even spark sectarian war by carrying attacks on the Shia community.
“Daesh extremists are doing this, but the good thing is that the Afghan society is much mature now and could easily differentiate between foes and friends, and preserve unity even in the tense times.”
