KABUL, Afghanistan: Two suicide bombers attacked a Shiite mosque in eastern Afghanistan during Friday prayers, killing at least 29 people and wounding another 81, officials said.
Abdullah Asrat, spokesman for the governor of Paktia province, said the heavily armed attackers, disguised in the all-encompassing burkas worn by conservative Afghan women, opened fire on private security guards outside the mosque in the city of Gardez. Then they slipped inside and set off their explosives among around 100 worshippers.
Five of the seriously wounded were small children, he said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Daesh affiliate in Afghanistan has targeted Shiite worshippers in the past. The group has also warned Afghanistan’s minority Shiites that their houses of worship would be targeted.
Syed Sufi Gardezi, the most senior Shiite cleric in Gardez, put the death toll at 30. He described a scene of panic and distress outside the Imam-e-Zaman mosque as news of the explosion spread and relatives gathered.
Gardezi said the wounded were screaming for help and body parts of the dead were scattered throughout the single story mosque. The dead were all men and boys, he said.
Dr. Mohammad Wali Roshan, a physician at a local hospital, said some of the relatives, armed with sticks and guns, were furious at the lack of security and began beating people, even medical personnel who arrived to help the wounded.
“They were shouting that there was no security and screaming for their loved ones,” he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Gardezi blamed the Daesh affiliate. He said the Taliban have a strong presence in the area but have never attacked Shiites in the past and have never threatened them.
Both the Taliban and the Daesh group are made up of radical group who want to overthrow the Western-backed government and impose a harsh form of law. But they are fiercely divided over leadership, ideology and tactics, and have clashed on a number of occasions. Daesh views Shiites as apostates deserving of death.
In the last two years, Daesh has attacked 24 Shiite cultural centers, mosques and schools, said Mohammad Jawad Ghawary, a member of the Shiite cleric council.
“In Afghanistan they are the biggest threat for Shiites,” he said. He called on the Afghan government and the international community to do more to protect Shiites.
Suicide bombing at mosque in Afghanistan kills at least 29
Suicide bombing at mosque in Afghanistan kills at least 29
- A suicide attack struck a Shiite mosque in eastern Afghanistan Friday targeting worshippers during weekly prayers.
- The attack comes as urban areas across Afghanistan have been rocked by an increasing number of attacks in recent months.
Orbán orders extra security at energy sites, claiming Ukraine plots disruptions
- Orbán said the Ukrainian government was using “an oil blockade” to exert pressure on Hungary
- “We will deploy soldiers and the necessary equipment to repel attacks near key energy facilities”
BUDAPEST: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Wednesday ordered extra security at critical energy infrastructure sites after claiming Ukraine was attempting to disrupt Hungary’s energy system.
Budapest has recently accused Kyiv of deliberately holding back Russian oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline, which crosses Ukraine’s territory. Ukrainian officials have denied the allegations, saying the pipeline, which feeds refineries in Hungary and Slovakia, was hit in a Russian drone attack.
‘An oil blockade’
In a video posted to social media, Orbán, who maintains the closest relationship with the Kremlin of any European Union leader, said the Ukrainian government was using “an oil blockade” to exert pressure on Hungary and that Hungarian national security services showed Ukraine was “preparing further actions to disrupt the operation of Hungary’s energy system.” He didn’t provide details or evidence for his claims.
“We will deploy soldiers and the necessary equipment to repel attacks near key energy facilities,” Orbán said. “The police will patrol with increased forces around designated power plants, distribution stations and control centers.”
Nearly every country in Europe has significantly reduced or entirely ceased Russian energy imports since Moscow launched its war in Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Yet Hungary and Slovakia, both EU and NATO members, have maintained and even increased supplies of Russian oil and gas, and received a temporary exemption from an EU policy prohibiting imports of Russian oil.
On Sunday, Hungary threatened to block a major, 90-billion euro ($106 billion) EU loan for Kyiv, and vetoed a new round of EU sanctions against Russia on Monday. Orbán has vowed to block any other EU measures to assist Ukraine until oil shipments resume.
Druzhba has been out of commission since Jan. 27. Repairs are hazardous and the pipeline can only operate reliably if Russia stops targeting energy infrastructure, according to Ukrainian officials.
Orbán also ordered Wednesday a ban on drone operations in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, which borders Ukraine.
A crucial election
Orban has repeatedly accused Ukraine of “blackmail” to force him to give up his anti-Ukrainian positions, and of seeking to drive up energy prices in Hungary just weeks before a pivotal election.
Orbán, who retook office in 2010, faces the strongest challenge to his power in an election set for April 12. The EU’s longest-serving leader and his right-wing Fidesz party are trailing in most independent polls to an upstart center-right challenger, Péter Magyar.
Meanwhile, Orbán has launched an aggressive anti-Ukraine media campaign portraying the embattled country as an existential threat to Hungary.
His party has pushed the message that if it loses the election, the Tisza party will drag the country into the war in Ukraine, bankrupting Hungary and getting its youth killed on the front lines.
