In the last year, Afghanistan witnessed over 60 deadly suicide attacks carried out by Taliban and Daesh across the country, with the majority of hits in Kabul, Nangarhar and Herat provinces.
Of the 63 attacks, Taliban has claimed responsibility for 48 of and Daesh 15 others. In 2017 the Taliban changed its war tactics and mostly used group attacks seizing Humvees for carrying out attacks against major military bases.
Civilians have paid a high price for these attacks as it was mostly ordinary people who were killed and wounded in the explosions.
Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has meanwhile said in most of the suicide attacks mainly the civilians’ have lost their lives and that re-emphasized targeting civilians is a war crime.
In the Deash suicide attacks, mostly civilians were targeted in Afghanistan. Shia’s mosques and religious places were the main targets of such attacks.
The Afghan defense ministry has meanwhile said it does not believe that these attacks have been carried out by Daesh.
“We can say that Taliban are behind of most of the suicide attacks which even Daesh do not know about. They (Taliban) carry out the attacks under the name of Daesh,” defense ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said.
The Afghan interior ministry said there is a source that supports Daesh and Taliban in their fights in Afghanistan.
“In Afghanistan, the same source supports Daesh and Taliban,” interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said.
Below are some Daesh attacks in 2017 with the number of fatalities and injuries:
• Attack on Tabyan Cultural Center in Kabul, 42 killed and 84 wounded
• Attack on Jawadia Mosque in Herat, 29 killed and 46 wounded
• Attack on Shamshad TV in Kabul, 2 killed and 21 wounded
• Attack on Imam Zaman mosque in Kabul, 50 killed and 46 wounded
• Attack on a mosque in Ghor province, 33 killed and 46 wounded
• Attack on al-Zahra Mosque in Kabul, 7 killed and 21 wounded
Mujtaba who has a shop near the Tabyan center says that transferring the bodies of killed and wounded people took one hour. He urged insurgents not to target civilians.
“When we were carrying the bodies, some had no head, and some had no legs. We urge the insurgent groups not to target civilians. Among those killed and wounded people, none were sons of the president or of MPs,” said Mujtaba.
AIHRC spokesman Bilal Sediqqi said killing civilians is a war crime and criticized the government for not investigating the cases of those who have committed war crimes.
When the Daesh group appeared first in parts of the country, the Afghan government said it was not a serious threat. But by the passing of time, the group expanded its attacks which claimed lives of dozens of civilians.