KABUL: Ten people were killed in a gun attack on a Sufi shrine in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP on Friday.

“A man fired on Sufis taking part in a weekly ritual at a shrine in a remote area of Nahrin district, killing 10 people,” the ministry’s Abdul Matin Qani said.

A Nahrin resident, who knew victims of the attack, told AFP that worshippers had gathered at the Sayed Pacha Agha shrine on Thursday evening.

They had begun a Sufi chant when “a man shot at the dozen worshippers”, he said on condition of anonymity.

“When people arrived for morning prayers, they discovered the bodies,” he added.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.

Attacks regularly target Sufis during rituals or gatherings in Afghanistan. The attacks have continued since the Taliban took over the country in 2021 and vowed to restore security to the war-torn nation.

In September, the the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) claimed responsibility for an attack in central Afghanistan that killed 14 people who had gathered to welcome pilgrims returning from the holy site of Karbala in Iraq.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2024