KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – At least 10 people were killed in a shooting by unidentified gunmen in Baghlan province, northern Afghanistan, on Thursday evening, November 21, according to local sources.
Several sources confirmed the incident to KabulNow today, saying that it occurred at the Sayed Pacha Agha Sadat shrine in Nahrin district, where followers of Sufi Muslims had gathered to pray.
A video obtained by KabulNow shows the victims lying on their prayer mats inside the shrine.
The Taliban Ministry of Interior has confirmed the incident, with its spokesperson, Abdul Matin Qani, saying, “A man opened fire on Sufis taking part in a weekly ritual at a shrine in a remote area of Nahrin district, killing ten people.”
No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the incident yet. However, most previous attacks of this nature have been carried out by ISKP, the regional affiliate of the Islamic State, which views Sufis as “heretics.”
ISKP claimed responsibility for bombing a Sufi mosque in northern Kunduz province in April 2022, an attack that killed at least 33 people and wounded dozens more.
The Taliban authorities claim to have defeated ISKP; however, the terror group remains a significant security challenge for the regime. In recent years, ISKP has carried out some of the deadliest attacks targeting religious minorities, including Shia-Hazaras, Sufis, and the Taliban themselves.
In 2022, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, called for an investigation into attacks on Shia-Hazara and Sufi communities. He said that these attacks are “becoming increasingly systematic in nature, reflecting elements of an organizational policy,” and may therefore constitute “crimes against humanity.”
