Gunman kills at least six people in attack on mosque in Herat, Afghanistan | Religion News

A government spokesman says an unknown armed person shot at worshipers at a mosque in Herat province, killing at least six people.

A gunman stormed a mosque in western Afghanistan and killed six people, a government spokesman said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said that “an unknown armed person shot at civilian worshipers at a mosque in the town of Andisheh, Guzara district of Herat province at around 9:00 PM (16:30 GMT) on Monday.

“Six civilians were tortured and one civilian was injured,” he wrote on social media platform X early Tuesday morning.

The state-run Bakhtar News Agency gave the same death toll for the attack. Citing local sources, local media station Tolo reported that the mosque belonged to Afghanistan’s minority Shia community.

A prayer leader known as Imam was also killed in the attack, according to local media reports. The Iranian embassy in Kabul condemned the attack.

Although no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, ISIL’s regional branch (ISIS) poses the biggest security threat in Afghanistan and has often targeted Shia communities.

The Taliban government has pledged to protect religious and ethnic minorities since returning to power in August 2021, but human rights observers say it has done little to deliver on that promise.

The most infamous ISIS-linked attack since the Taliban took power occurred in 2022, when at least 53 people – including 46 girls and young women – were killed in the suicide bombing of an education center in a Shiite neighborhood of Kabul. Taliban officials blamed ISIS for the attack.

Kabul’s new rulers claim to have eliminated ISIS from Afghanistan and are keen on suggestions the group has found a safe haven in the country since the withdrawal of foreign troops.

Taliban authorities have often stated a lower death toll following bombings and gun attacks than other sources, in an apparent attempt to downplay security threats.

A United Nations Security Council report published in January said there had been a decline in ISIL attacks in Afghanistan due to “Taliban counter-terrorism efforts.” But the report also said that ISIL still had “substantial” recruitment in the country and that the armed group had “the ability to project a threat in the region and beyond.”

The branch of ISIL, which spans Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, claimed responsibility for the March attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall concert hall, which killed more than 140 people. It was the deadliest attack in Russia in 20 years.