Three Afghans and three Spaniards were killed in an attack on tourists in Afghanistan that was attributed to the Islamic State organization yesterday.
In a statement posted on its Telegram channels, the extremist organization claimed that on Friday, “fighters shot at Christian tourists and their Shiite companions with machine guns” in the mountainous city of Bamiyan.
Approximately 180 kilometres west of Kabul’s capital, near Bamiyan, the tour group was shot at while shopping in a bazaar.
A coalition led by the United States that has fought IS in the Middle East is referenced by the jihadists when they claim to have struck a “bus of tourists who are citizens of coalition countries.”
The statement went on, “The attack is by the directives of the Islamic State leaders to target nationals of coalition countries wherever they may be.”
Following the attack, Taliban officials stated on Saturday that they had detained seven individuals.
The quantity of bombs and suicide assaults that have occurred in Afghanistan has significantly decreased since the Taliban government came to power.
But there are still a lot of armed organizations that pose a concern, like IS.
The historically persecuted Shiite Hazara community has been the victim of numerous attacks by jihadists who view them as heretics.
The majority of people in Bamiyan province, the most popular tourist destination in Afghanistan, are Hazaras.
The incident, which happened in a nation where few foreign countries maintain diplomatic ties, is thought to be the first fatal attack on foreign tourists since the Taliban retook control in 2021.
As security in Afghanistan has improved since the Taliban halted their fight and overthrew the government supported by the West, more tourists are visiting the country.
Officials from Spain announced on Sunday that Catalonia was the home of all three of the Spanish victims of the incident.
Among them was a 63-year-old guy who worked as an engineer, together with a mother and her daughter.
After suffering severe injuries, the 82-year-old Spanish retiree was taken to a hospital in Kabul run by the Italian non-governmental organization Emergency, where she and the other victims of the assault were stabilized.
The Spanish foreign ministry stated, “She is recovering favourably from her injuries, but her prognosis is uncertain.”
The foreign minister of Spain, Jose Manuel Albares, declared on X Sunday that he would “work to ensure that these crimes do not go unpunished” and that he “strongly condemns” the IS atrocity.
“The two Spanish nationals who were unharmed have left Afghanistan. He continued, “We are currently in the process of repatriating the remaining Spanish casualties.
Together with a European Union group stationed in Kabul, Spanish diplomats had travelled to Afghanistan and were engaged in repatriating the deceased and transferring the injured.
Along with other Western missions, the Spanish embassy in Kabul was evacuated in 2021 following the Taliban’s seizure of the Afghan capital. AFP
