The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has expressed concern over recent attacks in the country targeting religious minorities. It urged the Taliban administration to provide greater security and ensure that Muharram processions by the minority Shia community are not targeted by extremist groups like the ISIS-Khorasan. It cited reports that said that at least 120 civilians had died or were injured in several attacks in the first week of August.
“The de facto authorities must prevent such indiscriminate attacks, and launch thorough and transparent investigations,” the UNAMA stated. It said there is an urgent requirement for greater security across the country.
UNAMA’s response came after a bus in Kabul was hit by a landmine on August 7. Tolo News quoted witnesses saying that at least three people were killed and over 10 civilians were injured in the incident.
The UNAMA also condemned another attack that was carried out on August 5 in a Shia-majority area of Kabul. The attack reportedly caused dozens of casualties, which included women and children.
This is not generalised violence in Afghanistan. This is systematic, deliberate and targeted attack on one particular group, the Hazaras, in one area of the country, West Kabul, which is home to predominantly the Hazara-Shia population. #StopHazaraGenocide pic.twitter.com/GP3IIeUxsi
— Sitarah Mohammadi ستاره محمدی (@sitarah_m) August 8, 2022
On August 5, at least eight people were killed and 18 wounded after a bomb that was hidden in a cart exploded near a mosque in a Shia neighborhood of Kabul. The next day, on August 6, another bomb explosion in a busy shopping street in Kabul killed eight people and injured 22 others.
On August 4, an explosion in the city injured three people. A day earlier, on August 3, at least six people died and 11 others were injured in a car blast and a sporadic gunfight in Kabul’s fortified Green Zone.
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Afghanistan Richard Bennett expressed condolences to the families of victims, stressing that the Islamic Emirate (i.e. Taliban de facto regime) is responsible for “protecting all Afghans.”
Responding to the series of attacks in Kabul, which has a large Hazara population, Amnesty International’s regional researcher Zaman Sultani said that “the systematic attacks on the marginalized and persecuted Hazara Shia community in Afghanistan may amount to crimes against humanity and should be unequivocally condemned.”