Terrorism

Blast targeting funeral at Badakhshan mosque draws widespread condemnation

By Salaam Times and AFP

Relatives carry the bodies of victims in an ambulance after a bomb explosion during fateha prayers at the Nabawi mosque in the Hesa-e-Awal area of Fayiabad district, Badakhshan province, on June 8. The blast targeted a funeral service for an Afghan acting provincial governor whose assassination this week was claimed by ISIS. [Omer Abrar/AFP]

Relatives carry the bodies of victims in an ambulance after a bomb explosion during fateha prayers at the Nabawi mosque in the Hesa-e-Awal area of Fayiabad district, Badakhshan province, on June 8. The blast targeted a funeral service for an Afghan acting provincial governor whose assassination this week was claimed by ISIS. [Omer Abrar/AFP]

KABUL -- An explosion Thursday (June 8) at a funeral service for the former acting governor of Badakhshan province has raised concerns about increasing insecurity in northeastern Afghanistan.

The explosion took place inside the Nabawi mosque in the Hesa-e-Awal area of Faizabad, the provincial capital, locals told TOLOnews.

The funeral service was for Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, who served as the deputy governor of Badakhshan before stepping up as acting governor last month.

A suicide bomber on Tuesday drove a car filled with explosives into Ahmadi's vehicle in Faizabad. The "Islamic State of Syria and Iraq" (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the assassination, which also killed Ahmadi's driver and injured six others.

Afghans run away after a bomb blast at the Nabawi mosque in the Hesa-e-Awal area of Faizabad district, Badakhshan province, on June 8. [Omer Abrar/AFP]

Afghans run away after a bomb blast at the Nabawi mosque in the Hesa-e-Awal area of Faizabad district, Badakhshan province, on June 8. [Omer Abrar/AFP]

Interior Ministry spokesperson Abdul Nafi Takor said based on initial findings, at least 11 people were killed and 30 injured in Thursday's blast.

A source from the provincial hospital told TOLOnews on condition of anonymity that it received 15 dead bodies and 50 wounded.

Safiullah Samim, the former commander of Baghlan police, was among those killed, according to Mazuddin Ahmadi, Badakhshan provincial spokesman.

An AFP journalist near the scene of the blast said security forces had set up checkpoints around the funeral site in the morning.

When the explosion rang out, mourners and bystanders fled to nearby streets, and shops closed in panic as security forces cordoned off the area.

"I was standing outside the mosque to receive the guests coming; suddenly, a terrible sound shook the mosque," said witness Naseer Ahmad, 37.

"When I entered the mosque, I saw bloodied dead bodies lying on the ground," he told AFP.

Indiscriminate attacks

The reports of civilian deaths and injuries "are deeply disturbing", said the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

"UNAMA unequivocally condemns this and a recent spate of appalling and indiscriminate attacks that have shown a total disregard for civilian lives," it tweeted.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement it "condemns this brutality of the disgraced enemies".

"Attacking mosques and religious places is an act contrary to the rules of Islam and humane principles and has no justification," Abdullah Abdullah, former chairman of Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation, tweeted in reaction to the explosion.

ISIS remains a threat to Afghanistan despite officials' promises to prevent the nation from serving as a staging ground for international attacks.

The terrorist group has claimed responsibility for attacks on minority religious groups and embassies as well as on local government officials.

The chief of Badakhshan's provincial police force was killed in a suicide blast claimed by ISIS last December.

A bombing also killed the director of the provincial mining department in April 2022.

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In Afghanistan, many groups have been found among the Afghan people, which at first started their work by bombing mosquesو schools, killing intellectual people, religious scholars, and famous figures in the region. All the countries of the world call the different groups that kill the people of Afghanistan as radical Islamic groups and declare that anyone who has relations with these groups is a terrorist and there are bounties on their head from the foreign countries. Rewards are declared for the people to provide information about them, and millions of dollars are offered to kill them. A few years later, the same terrorist group that has killed thousands of innocent people in Afghanistan, the leaders of foreign countries meet with representative of this terrorist group outside of Afghanistan and receive financial assistance from a small number of foreign countries. The following year, they make the same terrorist groups that make Afghanistan a ruin, the rulers of Afghanistan. Behind these groups are foreign hands. The people of Afghanistan are being killed under one pretext. This is not the work of Muslims. These things that are happening in Afghanistan, these are the things of the enemies of Islam, not of the Muslim people.

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It seems that a new game is about to begin. The people will again need to migrate. In the past 20 months, we have endured many hardships, but one thing we enjoyed the most was the presence of security. There were minor issues like robberies, street fights...but there were no explosions. People breathed a sigh of relief, but if the war began again, it would be little and many works would end with it, but now the attack is still ongoing. But, dude, foreign intelligence networks don't leave us alone. What did they see in our homeland? Why don't they leave us alone? Why don't they let us make peace with each other and live in peace for a few days? The incident in Faizabad, the provincial capital of Badakhshan, is another bloody episode of the 45-year-old massacre of the Afghan homeland. We considered war and extremism as a way to burn our country's honor, religion, and morals because we had no compassion for anyone. Still, the current rulers and some former officials did not listen. The Faizabad massacre is neither the first nor the last, but we can make it the last. It can happen as if the current rulers of Afghanistan say, let's stand in a line together, accept each other's rights, stone the monopoly to death, and defeat every attempt of extremism with the force of a broad national agreement. May Allah have mercy upon us.

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Every murder and every explosion here is condemnable. Here every foreign intelligence war project is condemned and cursed. People are surprised what does the world want from Afghans. Of course, one thing is clear that the problem lies with Afghans. The Afghans have sold themselves to every intelligence agency. Afghan soil has neighbors who are worse than mad dogs. Afghanistan's neighbors have been fighting in this land under the name of religion for the past forty-five years. Regarding religion, this is wrong because Afghans are the only Muslims in the world whose neighbors are taking advantage of their ignorance. If we give a little more explanation, it means that Afghans are Muslims, but they are ignorant Muslims. This ignorance caused the war in the country to last 45 years due to a few Afghan workers, and the end is still not known. The only way to build Afghanistan is for Afghans to unite and accept each other. If this version is not implemented, understand that the war will be prolonged and prolonged so that the name of religion will be misused, but in reality, it will be something else. Afghans have been used only as raw material for the war for decades. There are several reasons for prolonging the war in this land; War for water: if there is insecurity in this land, water will flow to the neighbors unaccountably and without measure. Market War: This country is a good market for the neighboring countries' products. Road to Central Asia: Afghanistan is the center of

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