December 2017 Kabul suicide bombing | |
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Part of War in Afghanistan | |
Location | Tebyan Cultural Centre, Kabul, Afghanistan |
Date | 28 December 2017 |
Target | Shia Muslims |
Attack type | Suicide bombing |
Weapons | Bomb |
Deaths | 50 |
Injured | 80 |
Perpetrators | Islamic State – Khorasan Province |
Motive | Sunni fundamentalism Anti-Shi'ism |
The December 2017 Kabul suicide bombing occurred on 28 December 2017, when militants attacked a Shiite cultural centre in Kabul, Afghanistan. [1] [2] The attack killed 50 people and injured over 80. [3]
The major explosion of the attack occurred in the Tebyan Cultural centre (also spelled "Tabayan Cultural Centre" and "Tabian Cultural Centre"), a Shia cultural organisation, located in the Shia-dominated Dashte Barchi area of Kabul. [4] [5] The cultural centre also housed the Afghan Voice Agency, with victims including journalists and university students. The bombing occurred during a discussion held to mark the 38th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. [4] [6] The interior ministry of Afghanistan stated that two other explosions occurred soon afterwards, but did not cause any fatalities. [4] Among those killed were two children. Most of those injured were suffering from burns. [5] Photographs taken by eyewitnesses showed significant damage to the targeted building. [5]
The so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement released by the Amaq News Agency, operated by ISIL. The attack is among a series that has targeted Afghanistan's Shia minority, who are seen as heretics by the Islamic State. [1] [4] [5] According to the United Nations, 12 attacks have targeted Shiites in Afghanistan since the beginning of 2016, in which more than 700 people have been killed. [5] The Taliban denied responsibility for the attack soon after it occurred. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani described the incident as an "unpardonable" crime against humanity. [4] [5]
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.
Shia Muslims have been persecuted by the Islamic State (IS), an Islamist terrorist group, since 2014. Persecutions have taken place in Iraq, Syria, and other parts of the world.
In May 2016, the Islamic State conducted a series of bombing attacks in and around Shia neighbourhoods in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, killing and wounding hundreds. According to ISIL, attacks were aimed at Shia fighters.
Events in the year 2017 in Afghanistan.
Events in the year 2018 in Afghanistan.
A suicide bombing occurred on 21 March 2018 around 12:00 PM in Kabul near Kart-e Sakhi, a Shia shrine. At least 33 people were killed with more than 65 wounded in the bombing. The militant group ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack.
On 22 April 2018, a suicide bombing killed 70 people and wounded dozens more Sunday at a voter registration center in Koche Mahtab Qala, in the Hazara-majority Dashte Barchi area of western Kabul, Afghanistan. In addition to the fatalities, at least 120 others were injured in the attack.
Two bombings on 5 September 2018 at the Maiwand Wrestling Club in Qala-e-Nazer in Dasht-e-Barchi, a predominantly Hazara neighborhood of western Kabul, left at least 20 people dead and 70 others wounded, the deadliest attack on Kabul's Shia since the 15 August suicide bombing. The responsibility for the attacks was claimed by ISIL.
The Islamic State–Taliban conflict is an ongoing insurgency 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.
On 17 August 2019, a suicide bombing took place during a wedding in a wedding hall in Kabul, Afghanistan. At least 92 people were killed in the attack and over 140 injured. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility for the bombing, stating that the attack targeted the Shi'ites. More than 1,000 people were gathered for the wedding when the attack took place. The attack occurred a day before the 100th Afghan Independence Day, causing the government to postpone the planned celebrations taking place at the Darul Aman Palace. It was the deadliest attack in Kabul since January 2018.
In May 2020, a series of insurgent attacks took place in Afghanistan, starting when the Taliban killed 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 deaths 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 hospital shooting.
On 8 October 2021, an ISIS-K suicide bombing occurred at the Shia Gozar-e-Sayed Abad Mosque in the Afghan city of Kunduz. Over 50 people were killed, and another 100 injured, but according to an estimate by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, more than 100 people were killed and wounded.
On April 21, 2022, several separate explosions rocked different parts of Afghanistan. The first explosion occurred at the biggest Shia Muslim Seh Dokan mosque in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan. Over 31 people were killed and another 87 injured in the mosque explosion. Another explosion targeted a vehicle near a police station Kunduz city, leaving 4 dead and 18 injured. A mine planted explosion hit a van of the military in Khogiani killing four Taliban members and wounding a fifth. The roadside bomb wounded two children in the Niaz Beyk area of Kabul. Islamic State (ISIL) has claimed several attacks including the bombing of the Seh Dokan mosque.
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