Islamic State-K flags hoisted in Afghan province

NEW DELHI: The Khorasan branch of the Islamic State terror group known as IS-K, has hoisted its black flags in remote areas of Deh Rawood district in Afghanistan's Oruzgan province and are convincing new recruits to join with a payment of 30,000 Afghanis ($350), Raha Press reported citing sources.

The sources added that the IS-K has tried to confirm its stand in the district's Dehzak village and has asked the residents to cooperate with the group, the report said.

Since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, the IS-K has carried out at least four high-profile attacks mostly targeting Shia Hazaras, warning it would continue targeting more the minority group.

Earlier this month, the IS said in a statement published by its Al-Naba weekly magazine that the group would continue targeting Shia Muslims especially the Afghan Hazara community from Baghdad in Iraq to Khorasan regions.

The IS has calledthe Afghan Hazara community as an alliance to the Islamic Republic of Iran, claiming that community members also helped the US-led western alliance to fight against the terror group.

The terror group also claimed the rivalry between Shia and Sunni communities is rising in the Middle East and that the Sunni community has accepted the potential threats of Shia existence.

The development comes after the terror group's Khorasan branch (IS-K) claimed responsibility for bombings at two Shia mosques in Kunduz and Kandahar province earlier this month.

The attack in the Kandahar city mosque on October 15 killed 63 people, while the bombings in the Kunduz claimed the lives of at least 50 people. The two attacks also left several hundreds injured. Before the elected Afghan government's collapse and re-rise of Taliban, the IS was almost defeated to the ground by Afghan and some Middle Eastern countries' security forces including Iran, Iraq and Syria. (IANS)

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