2024 Bamyan shooting | |
---|---|
Part of Afghan conflict and terrorism in Afghanistan | |
Location | Bamyan, Afghanistan |
Date | 17 May 2024 |
Attack type | |
Deaths | 7 |
Injured | 7 |
Perpetrators | Islamic State – Khorasan Province [1] |
No. of participants | 4 (per Taliban government) |
Motive | Islamic extremism |
On 17 May 2024, a group of foreign tourists were attacked by gunmen at a market in Bamyan Province in central Afghanistan, according to government and security sources. [2]
Taliban-led Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Matin Qani said that three Spaniards and three Afghans were killed, including a Taliban member. Eight other people were injured, including one Lithuanian, one Norwegian, one Australian and one Spaniard. [3] [4] [5] The injured Spaniard tourist died from her injuries in Spain on July 30. [6] Qani said on X that Taliban forces' efforts to apprehend the perpetrators led to the arrests of four suspects linked to the assault, and that they were possibly affiliated with the Islamic State. [7]
On 19 May, ISIS – Khorasan Province Islamic State officially claimed responsibility for the attack, adding that they had targeted western tourists from countries that were a part of the US-led anti-IS coalition, alongside their Afghan Shia guides. [8]
The Pakistani Taliban, formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan, is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani border. Formed in 2007 by Baitullah Mehsud, its current leader is Noor Wali Mehsud, who has publicly pledged allegiance to the Afghan Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban share a common ideology with the Afghan Taliban and have assisted them in the 2001–2021 war, but the two groups have separate operation and command structures.
The Hazaras have long been the subject of persecution in Afghanistan, including enslavement during the 19th century and ethnic and religious persecution for hundreds of years. In the 20th and 21st centuries, they have also been the victims of massacres committed by the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Hazaras have been systemically killed and discriminated against socially, economically, and culturally with specific intent, argued by some to constitute genocide. The Hazaras primarily come from the central regions of Afghanistan, known as Hazarajat. Significant communities of Hazara people also live in Quetta, Pakistan and in Mashad, Iran, as part of the Hazara and Afghan diasporas.
The Islamic State – Khorasan Province is a regional branch of the Salafi jihadist group Islamic State (IS) active in South-Central Asia, primarily Afghanistan and Pakistan. ISIS–K seeks to destabilize and replace current governments within the historic Khorasan region with the goal of establishing a caliphate across South and Central Asia, governed under a strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law, which they plan to expand beyond the region.
The following lists events that happened during 2016 in Afghanistan.
Events in the year 2017 in Afghanistan.
Events in the year 2018 in Afghanistan.
The Islamic State–Taliban conflict is an ongoing insurgency waged by the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (IS-KP) against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The conflict initially began when both operated as rival insurgent groups in Nangarhar; since the formation of the Taliban's state in 2021, IS-KP members have enacted a campaign of terrorism targeting both civilians and assassinating Taliban members using hit-and-run tactics. The group have also caused incidents and attacks across the border in Pakistan.
Events in the year 2020 in Afghanistan.
In May 2020, a series of insurgent attacks took place in Afghanistan, starting with the Taliban killing 20 Afghan soldiers and wounded 29 others in Zari, Balkh and Grishk, Helmand on 1 and 3 May, respectively. On 12 May, a hospital's maternity ward in Kabul and a funeral in Kuz Kunar (Khewa), Nangarhar were attacked, resulting in the death of 56 people and injuries of 148 others, including newborn babies, mothers, nurses, and mourners. ISIL–KP claimed responsibility for the funeral bombing, but no insurgent group claimed responsibility for the maternity ward shooting.
In a continuation of previous attacks by the Taliban in May and June, multiple clashes between Afghan security forces and the Taliban were reported. They carried out several attacks throughout Afghanistan, resulting in multiple fatalities on both sides. Both the Taliban and government forces have accused each other responsibility over the recent surge in violence across Afghanistan. The attacks come despite the signing of a peace deal with the U.S. in February that was intended to put an end to the war.
The year 2021 in Afghanistan was marked by a major offensive from the Taliban beginning in May and the Taliban capturing Kabul in August.
The republican insurgency in Afghanistan is an ongoing low-level guerrilla war between the National Resistance Front and allied groups which fight under the banner of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on one side, and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on the other side. On 17 August 2021, former first vice president of Afghanistan Amrullah Saleh declared himself the "caretaker" president of Afghanistan and announced the resistance. On 26 August, a brief ceasefire was declared. On 1 September, talks broke down and fighting resumed as the Taliban attacked resistance positions.
This is a timeline of Islamic State (ISIS)-related events that occurred in 2024.