The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility on Sunday for a deadly attack in Bamiyan, a mountainous town in central Afghanistan, in which three Spanish tourists and three Afghan nationals died on Friday. The victims were the target of gunfire late Friday afternoon in the city’s bazaar.
The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for a deadly attack in Afghanistan on Sunday in which three Spanish tourists and three Afghan nationals died on Friday. In a statement posted on its Telegram channels, the jihadist group said that “fighters fired machine guns at Christian tourists and their Shiite companions” on Friday in Bamiyan, a mountainous town in central Afghanistan.
Gunshots in the city bazaar
The victims were the target of gunfire late Friday afternoon in the bazaar of this tourist town some 180 km from Kabul. The attack targeted “a busload of tourists from coalition countries,” said the jihadist group, in reference to the international coalition led by the Americans to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
This action “is in accordance with the directives of the leaders” of the IS “to target nationals of the coalition countries wherever they are”, added the group. This deadly attack is apparently the first against foreign tourists since the return to power of the Taliban in August 2021 in Afghanistan, where foreign diplomatic representations are rare.