Iran Condemns Attack on Kabul Mosque
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Iran’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemned a terrorist attack on a Shiite mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul that killed at least 20 people and wounded dozens of others on Friday.
In a statement on Friday night, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi expressed condolences to the Afghan government, nation and families of victims of the “inhumane crime.”
“Fueling sectarian rifts and disrupting the unity of the patient Afghan nation are undoubtedly among the objectives pursued by the terrorists who commit such crimes,” he noted, saying these terrorists are getting weaker every day.
“It is necessary that the Afghan government and people disappoint them (terrorists) and their supporters like always through rapport and vigilance,” the spokesperson added.
A suicide bombing followed by gunfire as Shiite Muslims gathered for Friday prayers at Imam Zaman mosque in Kabul killed at least 20 people and wounded dozens of others on Friday, with the Daesh (ISIL, also known as ISIS) terrorist group claiming responsibility.
After the blast at the mosque in the Qala-Najara neighborhood in north Kabul gunmen stormed in and began shooting.
The attack was the latest by Daesh to hit the Afghan capital. Last month it hit the Iraqi embassy in Kabul and afterwards issued a warning to all Shiites in Afghanistan, saying its cadres would attack Shiite places of worship.
Within days of the embassy attack, ISIL also took responsibility for a suicide assault on a Shiite mosque in western Herat province that killed 32 people.
