Time to take action against Islamic State Khorasan in Afghanistan and Pakistan

The Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) group claimed the suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque in the Afghan city of Kandahar on Friday that killed at least 41 people and wounded scores more. The jihadist group said that two suicide bombers carried out separate attacks on different parts of the mosque while worshippers prayed inside.

"The first suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest... in a mosque hallway, while the second suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest in the mosque's centre," the statement said.

The assault in the southern city -- the Taliban's spiritual heartland -- came just a week after a deadly suicide attack on Shiite worshippers at a mosque in northern Kunduz, which was also claimed by the IS group.

The Taliban, which seized control of Afghanistan in mid-August after overthrowing the US-backed government, has its own history of persecuting Shiites.

But the new Taliban-led government has vowed to stabilize the country, and in the wake of the Kunduz attack promised to protect the Shiite minority now living under its rule.

Shiites are estimated to make up roughly 10% of the Afghan population. Many of them are Hazara, an ethnic group that has been persecuted in Afghanistan for decades.

The Islamic State – Khorasan is an affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) active in South Asia and Central Asia. Some media sources also use the terms ISK (or IS–K), ISISK (or ISIS–K), IS–KP or Daesh–Khorasan in referring to the group. ISKP has been active in Afghanistan and its area of operations includes Pakistan, Tajikistan and India where they claimed attacks, as well as Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Bangladesh where individuals have pledged allegiance to it. ISKP and the Taliban consider each other enemies.

The group was created in January 2015 by disaffected Taliban in eastern Afghanistan, although its membership includes individuals from various countries notably Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Myanmar. Its initial leaders, Hafiz Saeed Khan and Abdul Rauf Aliza, were killed by US forces in July 2016 and February 2015, respectively. Subsequent leaders have also been killed; its leader Abdullah Orokzai was captured in April 2020 by Afghanistan's intelligence service.

ISKP has conducted numerous high-profile attacks against civilians mostly in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In July 2018, ISKP bombings killed 149 in Mastung, Pakistan. In May 2021, an ISKP bombing killed 90 in Kabul. In August 2021, ISKP killed 13 American military personnel and at least 169 Afghans during the US evacuation of Kabul, which marked the highest number of U.S. military deaths in an attack in Afghanistan since 2011.