ISIS suicide bombers kill 80 and injure more than 230 at Afghan protest:
nainawa:
ceciliadavidson:
nainawa:
A brief statement on the group’s Amaq agency read: “Two fighters from Islamic State detonated explosive belts at a gathering of Shi'ites in the city of Kabul inAfghanistan.”
The attack was the worst in months and if confirmed as the work of Islamic State, would represent a major escalation for a group which has hitherto been largely confined to the eastern province of Nangarhar.
The explicit reference to the Hazara’s Shia religious affiliation also represents a menacing departure for Afghanistan, where the bloody rivalry between Sunni and Shia typical of Iraq has been relatively rare, despite decades of war.
The Persian-speaking Hazara, estimated to make up about 9 percent of the population, are Afghanistan’s third-largest minority but they have long suffered discrimination and thousands were killed under Taliban rule.
The Taliban, a fierce enemy of Islamic State, had earlier issued a statement denying any involvement in the bombings.
“We would never take part in any incident that divides the Afghan people,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
Proof that Daesh DOESN’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT RELIGION.
IT’S POLITICS.
ISIS are targeting, and always have targeted, Shias, Christians and other minorities. ISIS are only interested in taking over the world so that they can kill every single Shia man, woman and child who walks on it. If you’re Christian, Jewish, even an atheist, you may be given the chance to convert- if you’re Shia then you will be beheaded on the spot.
There are stories from when ISIS took over cities that its Sunni residents were permitted to ask for forgiveness or leave; Christians were told to convert or leave, while Shias were not afforded either privilege. At checkpoints if you claim you are Muslim they make you show them how you pray to see if you’re telling the truth that you’re Sunni (I doubt any claims they are Shia). Their agenda is obvious in what they say and in who they target. The attack a few weeks ago in Baghdad targeted a primarily Shia neighbourhood. in 2014 ISIS picked out 1700 unarmed Shias and non-Muslims cadets at Camp Speicher and massacred them until the River Tigris was visibly red with their blood.
ISIS is and has always been about religion. It’s not a reactionary movement to Western intervention. Yes, Western intervention and subsequent withrdrawal from Iraq left the power vaccuum (and the weapons) needed for ISIS to develop so rapidly, but their ideology is not formed in response to what the West has done: they believe they are fulfilling ancient prophecies. Anti-Shi’ism has always been a trait of groups like Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Anti-Shi’ism has always been a charactersitic of mainstream, Islamic scholarship. Only now is it coming to the forefront of the Western imagination because of the incredibly high frequency of attacks that it cannot simply be ignored.
ISIS wants to kill people who don’t agree with them religiously. Their political goal is their religious goal and vice versa.
Above: Dabiq is the online magazine published by ISIS. Below is the cover page of the 13th issue published in January 2016. Its title is “The Rafidah,” a derogatory term used for over a thousand years to refer to Shia Muslims (more specifically, twelver Shias Muslims). The subtitile “From Ibn Saba’ to the Dajjal” refers to the widely discredited anti-Shia propaganda about the origins of Shi’ism being the creation of a Yemeni Jew, Abdullah ibn Saba’ (Muslims have never been innocent of antisemitsm) and also to the the belief that the Shia are waiting for someone who is in fact the false Messiah, or Antichrist: Dajjal.