Islamic State takes credit for cold-blooded killing of 10 mine deactivators in Afghanistan

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the assault the day before against a Halo Trust camp, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to the removal of mines and explosive devices, in northern Afghanistan. The gunmen killed 10 mine deactivators in cold blood and wounded 16, according to the NGO. Almost immediately the Afghan government held the Taliban responsible, but a guerrilla spokesman condemned the attack and Halo's director stated that the group's local branch helped its employees repel the assailants.

The attack occurred on Tuesday at 9:50 p.m. local time (7:20 p.m. PST) when hooded men stormed the Halo demining camp in Baghlan province, north of Kabul. Ten employees were killed and another 16 injured, according to the organization's statement. At the time of the attack there were about 110 men, "members of the local communities, who had finished their work in the surrounding minefields." The assailants went "bed by bed" shooting them "in cold blood."

Both Baghlan police and Interior Ministry spokesman Tareq Arian blamed the Taliban.

However, the demining organization avoided directly accusing anyone and attributed what happened to “an unknown armed group”.

In addition, its executive director, James Cowan, told the BBC that the local Taliban came to the aid of their employees and managed to drive out the attackers.

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Since last year the Taliban signed an agreement with the United States in Doha for the departure of foreign troops, there have been numerous attacks and assassinations that no one claims and that encourage fear among the population.

But that guerrilla, which pledged with Washington not to attack large urban centers and reduce civilian casualties, is not the only insurgent group operating in Afghanistan.

The local branch of the Islamic State, which emerged in 2014, is often behind the most brutal actions.

The Islamic State in Khorasan, as the Afghan franchise is called, has claimed responsibility for the attack on Halo, as reported by jihadist threat analysis group SITE.

ISKP Claims Attack on HALO Trust Mine Clearance Staff in Baghlan https://t.co/kNAL1PDiNk pic.twitter.com/m0pjWBGO9F

- SITE Intel - Jihadist Threat (@siteintel_jt) June 9, 2021

An element pointed in that direction.

In a video that the Baghlan police had shared with Afghan journalists, one of the survivors says that, before shooting, the assailants asked if there were any members of the Hazara community.

“Five or six armed men arrived, they led us to a room.

First, they took our money and cell phones, they asked who our leader was and if there were any feats between us, ”said the man who, despite being wounded in the head, managed to escape through a window.

Another witness cited by the agency France Presse said that one of those present identified himself as a Hazara and was immediately killed.

Then the gunmen, all hooded, fired at the rest.

The Hazara, an ethnic minority who profess the Shiite branch of Islam, are in the crosshairs of the Islamic State, a Sunni supremacist group that does not recognize their creed and considers them infidels.

They have been the target of numerous attacks.

The most recent, on May 8, against a school for girls in Kabul, left 85 dead and 147 injured.

However, neither the Islamic State nor the Taliban claimed responsibility for this or previous attacks.

Previously, the Taliban guerrillas, whose stated goal is to bring down the Afghan government backed by the international community, had denied their involvement in the killing of Halo employees.

"We have normal relations with NGOs, our fighters never carry out such brutal acts," tweeted their spokesman, Mujahid Zabihullah.

But even when the Islamic State blames itself for an attack, the Afghan government routinely blames the Taliban, insisting that it was dismantled two years ago when its bases in Nangarhar province were destroyed. According to the Interior spokesman, between May 24 and June 7, the Taliban carried out 30 murders, 115 bomb attacks and 6 suicide attacks, resulting in 75 civilians dead.

The Taliban guerrillas have not only been attacking government representatives for two decades, but in the face of the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country they are trying to gain ground, especially in rural areas. His militia members dispute government control in 26 of the 34 provinces of the country and in recent days have managed to capture 10 districts, according to official sources. Baghlan has been the scene of heavy fighting between them and the security forces for several weeks.

After four long decades of successive wars, Afghanistan is littered with mines and unexploded ordnance. Several organizations are working to eliminate the danger it poses to the population, an effort that was redoubled after the US ousted the Taliban from power in 2001. Halo, present in the Asian country since its founding in 1988, is the largest of the them and in his day received the resounding support of the late Princess Diana of Wales. Most of its employees are not bomb squad, but inhabitants of the areas where they work, who know the terrain and who are trained by the NGO for demining tasks.

The departure of international troops from Afghanistan, which must conclude before September 11 of this year, coinciding with the anniversary of the attacks that motivated the US intervention, has unleashed the panic of Afghans who have worked with foreign armies and also among NGO staff. They fear that the Taliban will retaliate against them. Earlier in the week, the Taliban released a message trying to reassure them and assuring that if they regretted what they had done, they should have no fear. The increase in visa applications, especially from translators, is a tangible example of the mistrust they generate.