Daesh claims gun attack killing six in Afghan mosque

The Daesh group has claimed a gun attack on a minority Shiite mosque in western Afghanistan that killed six people on Monday.

Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said on Tuesday morning that "an unknown armed person shot at civilian worshippers in a mosque" in Herat province's Guzara district at around 9pm (1630 GMT) the previous night.

"Six civilians were martyred and one civilian was injured," he wrote on social media platform X.

Late Tuesday, the regional chapter of the Daesh group claimed responsibility and said numerous gunmen had stormed the mosque with machine guns — contradicting the official account of a single assailant.

Locals said the mosque, located just south of provincial capital Herat, served the minority Shiite community and that an imam and a three-year-old child were among those killed.

They said a team of three gunmen had staged the attack.

"One of them was outside and two of them came inside the mosque, shooting the worshippers," said 60-year-old Ibrahim Akhlaqi, the brother of the slain imam. "It was in the middle of prayers."

"Whoever was in the mosque has either been martyred or wounded," added 23-year-old Sayed Murtaza Hussaini.

Taliban authorities have frequently given death tolls lower than other sources after bombings and gun attacks, or otherwise downplayed them, in an apparent attempt to minimise security threats.

Agence France-Presse