Explosion Rocks Shia Mosque In Baghlan
Local sources reported an explosion inside a mosque in the second district of Pol-e Khomri city in Baghlan Province. According to sources, the explosion occurred at the Imam Zaman Mosque during Friday prayers.
Local sources reported an explosion inside a mosque in the second district of Pol-e Khomri city in Baghlan Province. According to sources, the explosion occurred at the Imam Zaman Mosque during Friday prayers.
Sources said that the blast took place inside a Shiite Mosque, killing and injuring several worshipers.
The exact number of casualties due to this explosion is not currently available.
According to sources, this explosion was caused by an embedded bomb. Local sources said that after the explosion, Taliban members rushed to the scene.
Local Taliban authorities have not commented on the explosion so far.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said that the organisation has allocated $12 million for immediate humanitarian assistance to help the earthquake victims in western Afghanistan.
The US aid to Afghanistan has been announced at the same time as the appeal made by relief organisations to increase urgent financial resources for the treatment of hundreds of victims of the two earthquakes in the past five days in western Afghanistan.
Reuters reported that the aid will be distributed through external agencies such as the International Organisation for Migration, which includes temporary shelter, blankets, clothes, food, and other items.
The Taliban has provided varying statistics regarding the earthquake's casualties. The group’s Ministry for Disaster Management announced that at least 2,400 people died in the earthquake, but the Ministry of Public Health announced that the number of victims was more than 1,000 people.
Manzoor Pashteen, the leader of Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), announced that the Pakistani authorities prevented his group's campaign to collect aid for the Herat earthquake victims.
He criticised the Pakistani government for preventing the "humane expression of Pashtun sympathy".
Pashteen is one of the influential leaders of Pashtuns in Pakistan, who has repeatedly criticised the country's government and army for illegal killings and kidnappings in tribal areas and has held demonstrations for the rights of Pashtuns in Pakistan.
The PTM leader wrote on Facebook on Thursday that his group’s members set up aid collection tents to help the earthquake victims of Herat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including in Quetta city of Baluchistan province. However, the Pakistani authorities did not allow them to do so and shut down the tents.
He added, "How deprived are the Pashtuns that they are not even allowed human sympathy."
At the same time as the scope of damages and needs became more apparent following two powerful earthquakes in western Afghanistan in the last five days, more countries have announced financial commitments for the victims of the earthquake.
In the latest case, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea announced on Thursday that it will donate one million dollars to help the victims of the devastating earthquake in Herat.
The ministry said in a statement that emergency aid would be sent through the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The Chinese government announced on Thursday that it will provide more than four million dollars-worth of humanitarian support to Afghanistan in order to help the victims of the recent earthquakes.
Earlier, two days after the deadly Herat earthquake, China had donated 200,000 dollars to the victims of the earthquake.
Chinese media outlets reported on Thursday that the new aid announcement came from the China International Development Cooperation Agency. These new donations will include tents, beds, blankets, winter coats and other items needed by the affected families.
China announced that this aid would be transferred to Afghanistan and will be distributed among the people. Also, more food aid will be given to the earthquake victims.
Five days after the deadly Herat earthquake, more countries have announced their readiness to send aid to Afghanistan. Referring to the humanitarian crisis caused by the earthquake in Herat Province, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies called for immediate international support for the victims.
The federation said that the full extent of the tragedy was still emerging, and urgent international support was needed.
This week, following two earthquakes in western Afghanistan, hundreds of people have been killed and injured, and many villages have been destroyed.
In a statement, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies requested 132 million dollars to respond to the immediate needs of those affected by the earthquake. These immediate needs include food assistance, cash assistance, emergency shelter, household items, emergency health care, psychological support, and clean and sanitary water.
Sources said that Pakistani security forces have not been allowing Afghan travellers who do not have passports and visas to cross the Chaman border over the last three days.
Previously, Afghan and Pakistani citizens could cross the border using their national identity cards.
Spin Boldak and Chaman border is an important crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan, but since the restrictions imposed by Pakistan, thousands of people have been waiting to cross the border on both sides of Afghanistan and Pakistan borders.
Mohammad Rafiq Achikzai, a resident of Chaman city in Pakistan, whose business is setup in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar (Afghanistan), told Afghanistan International, "For many years, people with Afghan and Pakistani IDs have been commuting between tribal areas of Spin Boldak and Chaman."
Mohammad Wali, a Pakistani local elder, said that following a meeting with Baluchistan province authorities three days ago, they declared that cross-border travel on both sides should require a passport.
He stated, "We cannot tolerate this decision of the Pakistani government, the business of thousands of people here is being affected. This is our homeland and we [tribes] do not accept the decision of Pakistan and Afghanistan to travel with passports.”
Pakistan recently announced that it will deport foreign nationals without legal documentation from Pakistan.
Afghanistan’s consulate in Dubai, controlled by the Taliban, announced that the Fly Dubai airline will resume its flights to Afghanistan from November 15.
Media outlets affiliated to the Taliban also reported that Fly Dubai will have two daily flights to Afghanistan.
Fly Dubai has not yet commented on this matter.
This airline stopped its flights to Afghanistan after the Taliban’s takeover of power in 2021.
The Afghan consulate in Dubai has announced that the airline will resume flights to Afghanistan following the Taliban officials’ efforts.
The consulate hailed the resumption of Fly Dubai flights to Afghanistan as a vital decision for Afghanistan.