ISIS Kills Shia Muslims in Afghanistan in Bus Attack

In Afghanistan, the embattled Shia Muslim community was attacked once more by the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K). This Sunni Islamist terrorist group is a branch of ISIS (Islamic State – IS) and is anti-Shia to the core.

Hence, the latest ISIS-K bus attack against Shia Muslims (Hazara community) follows a similar pattern based on sectarian hatred.

ISIS-K deliberately targeted a bus in the Dasht-e-Barchi district because this area in Kabul is a stronghold of the Hazara Shia Muslim community. The attack left seven people dead.

Voice of America reports, “Last month, IS-K carried out two bomb attacks targeting a gym in Dashti Barchi and a gathering of Shi’ite clerics in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan. The blast killed four people and 10 religious scholars, respectively.”

Lee Jay Walker says, “The Taliban is intent on crushing ISIS-K and restoring order throughout Afghanistan. Unlike ISIS-K, the National Resistance Front (NRF), led by Ahmad Massoud, is intent on resisting the Taliban politically and from a more potent stance. However, the NRF (a political dynamic) and ISIS-K are currently outmatched by the Taliban. Therefore, unless external intrigues enter the fray, it seems likely that the Taliban will further entrench their power concentration policies.”

The collective nations of China, India, Iran, the Russian Federation, and the various nations of Central Asia – despite tensions existing between the Taliban and Tajikistan – all seek a stable Afghanistan and for Islamic terrorist forces to be curtailed. However, ISIS-K is intent on destabilizing the Taliban government and curtailing regional economic policies – while furthering its anti-Shia sectarian policies.

Shia Muslims hope that new security measures will be introduced to protect this embattled religious community

Source » moderntokyotimes.com