Afghan Shiites brace for attacks ahead of Ashura

KABUL: A series of devastating suicide attacks on Afghanistan’s minority Shiite community has fuelled fears of more violence ahead of Ashura, one of the Muslim sect’s holiest days, and prompted calls for civilians to arm themselves.

The religious holiday, which falls on Thursday, has become a major target for the Islamic State group since it emerged in the region in 2014 and began assaulting Shiites in overwhelmingly Sunni Afghanistan.

Sunni extremists, like IS, consider Shiites apostates, and have carried out deadly attacks on the sect across the region, massacring hundreds.

The violence has escalated in recent weeks, with more than 60 people killed in suicide bombings at a wrestling club and an education centre in a heavily Shiite-populated neighbourhood of Kabul.

Burqa- clad suicide bombers also struck a Shiite mosque in the eastern city of Gardez last month, killing at least 35 people.

IS claimed responsibility for those attacks.

“We are in constant fear, day and night,” Ahmad Zia Ahmadi told AFP on Sunday as he oversaw repairs at the Maiwand wrestling club, which was badly damaged in the September 5 double bombing.

“If the government does not provide security for us, we will have to arm ourselves.”

The Afghan government is frequently criticised for failing to protect Shiites, who number around three million in Afghanistan, and there are growing fears of vigilantism.

Hundreds of civilians were recruited last year to protect Shiite religious sites in Kabul and other cities ahead of Ashura, reinforced by police officers.

The move helped to reduce the number of attacks, a senior Shiite leader told AFP recently, but no such plan has been announced for this Ashura. — AFP