Rise in Islamic State Khorasan deadly attacks could be sign of group’s growing strength in Afghanistan
Attacks by Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) in Afghanistan have become more deadly since the withdrawal of NATO forces, with at least 346 civilians killed by the group since late August.
The insurgents carried out bombings in areas where previously they had little presence. A security expert told Sky News this could be a sign of the group’s growing strength.
Earlier this week, US Pentagon officials suggested ISIS-K intended to carry out attacks against the West and could have the ability to do so within six months.
The group is an affiliate of Islamic State based in South and Central Asia and are ideologically opposed to the Taliban’s nationalist view of Afghanistan, instead seeking to establish an Islamic State across the region.
During and after the US withdrawal, Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) have carried out a suspected 21 attacks in Afghanistan.
The deadliest of these was on 26 August when a suicide bomb at Kabul’s main airport killed 170 civilians and 13 US marines.
Since then, there have been several ISIS-K attacks across Afghanistan, including seven between 18 September – 6 October that killed 18 people.
On 8 October an ISIS-K suicide bomber targeted a Hazara mosque in the northern city of Kunduz, killing at least 43 people.
The picture below shows the damage caused by the bomb inside the mosque.
Shortly after, between 8-12 October, five attacks in four days around Jalalabad, an ISIS-K stronghold, targeted both the Taliban and civil society activists.
A few days later on 15 October, CCTV captured two men attacking a Shia mosque in Kandahar, in the south of the country.
At least 47 people were killed in the suicide attack carried out when prayers were underway in the courtyard of the mosque.
The footage shows the attackers entering the mosque and detonating a device.
At least five further attacks have occurred since the 15 October mosque attack in Kandahar, meaning around 408 people have been killed by ISIS-K in Afghanistan since August 26, including 346 civilians.
This level of ISIS-K attacks is not unprecedented. In 2018 they were responsible for more deaths globally than all but three other terrorist groups that year. Operations by the Afghan government and NATO forces helped reduce the threat throughout 2019 and 2020.
But now the number of attacks is rising again, with civilian casualties in October 2021 alone higher than in the first nine months of 2020.
Many of these attacks have taken place in the east of the country in Nangarhar province, where ISIS-K has a strong presence.
The Taliban has retaliated, with reports of people being dragged from their homes and killed in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar, for allegedly being ISIS-K members or supporters.
The worsening situation is only exacerbating the existing humanitarian crisis within Afghanistan. The UN has warned that without urgent humanitarian relief the country is on a “countdown to catastrophe”.
It already has one of the largest populations internationally facing acute hunger and it is estimated that up to a million children are at risk of starvation.
What has changed since the withdrawal?
The flurry of attacks highlight the challenge facing the Taliban, who are now expected to provide security across the country despite lacking the manpower, skills, and finance of the previous Afghan government.
Dr Antionio Giustozzi, a senior research fellow at the defence think tank the Royal United Services Institute, said: “ISIS-K’s main enemy has always been the Taliban – there were relatively few incidents between them and the Americans previously.
“What’s different now is the spread of their activity across Afghanistan – Charikar, Kunduz, and Kandahar – these are places ISIS-K didn’t have overt activity before.
“The Islamic State sees the Taliban as being in a weak position right now as they are stretched very thin financially and militarily. Their manpower is taken up controlling the cities, so ISIS-K see now as the right time to strike.”
This week, a US Department of Defence official said that ISIS-K also intends to attack Western countries but that they don’t currently have the means to do so.
It is not just the US that will be monitoring developments with ISIS-K closely.
For the threat to be controlled, the support of other external powers will likely be needed. According to Dr Guistozzi: “The Taliban can only consolidate with support of the regional powers, notably China and Russia. Both of these countries are against the Islamic State – ISIS-K fear Russia in particular and their ruthless airstrikes, like they carried out in Syria.”
Reporting: Jack Taylor and Kieran Devine
Maps and Digital Production: Ganesh Rao
Satellite imagery: Google Earth
Data: The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
Pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai has been found guilty of national security offences in Hong Kong.
The media tycoon and British citizen, 78, was arrested in August 2020 after China imposed a national security law following massive anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
Sky News’ Asia correspondent Helen-Ann Smith, who is at West Kowloon Law Courts Building, said Mr Lai looked “drawn and thin” as he listened to the verdict being delivered.
He had previously been sentenced for several lesser offences during his five years in prison.
Mr Lai, who founded the now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security, as well as one count of conspiracy to distribute seditious publications.
He has been found guilty of all three charges.
His trial, heard by three judges approved by the government without a jury present, has been closely monitored by the UK, the US, the European Union and political observers as a barometer of media freedom and judicial independence in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Mr Lai has spent more than 1,800 days in solitary confinement. His family say his health has worsened as a result and that he suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and heart palpitations.
In August, Mr Lai’s son, Sebastien, told Sky News that unless the British government (of which Mr Lai is a citizen) intervenes, his father “is most likely going to die in jail”.
Lai arriving at court in 2020. Pic: AP
Sebastien said his father’s death would not just be a personal tragedy, but a huge problem for both the Hong Kong authorities and Beijing’s government.
“You can’t tell the world you have the rule of law, the free press and all these values that are instrumental to a financial centre and still have my father in jail,” he told Sky News.
“And if he dies, that’s it, that’s a comma on Hong Kong as a financial centre.”
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A bystander hailed a hero after he tackled and disarmed one of the gunmen in the Bondi Beach shooting is a shop owner.
The man, named by a relative as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, was seen in a video running up to the attacker from behind and then grabbing the shotgun from his hands before pointing the weapon back at him.
The footage then showed the terrorist heading towards a bridge where another gunman was located, while the bystander placed the gun beside a tree.
Ahmed al Ahmed (in a white T-shirt) is seen in a video running up to a gunman from behind
Mr Ahmed then wrestles with the attacker
Live updates on Sydney shooting
Mr Ahmed, who was wearing a white T-shirt, was shot twice in the incident and was due to have surgery, his cousin, Mustafa, has revealed.
In a video on 7News, Mr Ahmed appeared to have a bloodied arm and hand, and was helped by other people near the scene in the Australian city.
At least 11 people were killed and 29 others injured in the attack when two gunmen opened fire from a bridge on crowds at a Jewish event around 6pm local time on Sunday evening.
More than 1,000 people had been at the gathering which was celebrating the festival of Hanukkah.
Mr Ahmed manages to get the gun off the terrorist
The bystander then points the weapon at the attacker who moves away towards a bridge
A gunman was killed and another was in a critical condition following the shooting.
One of the suspects was 24-year-old Naveed Akram.
His driver’s licence says he lives in Bonnyrigg, a suburb of Sydney. The identity of the other suspected attacker is not known.
Naveed Akram, 24, was one of the suspects
Mustafa said father-of-two Mr Ahmed, who owns a fruit shop in the Sydney suburb of Sutherland, did not have any experience with guns but was just walking past when he decided to step in.
He told 7News: “He’s in hospital and we don’t know exactly what’s going on inside.
“We do hope he will be fine. He’s a hero, 100%.”
Read more:
What we know about mass shooting
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One of the suspected gunmen has been named as 24-year-old Naveed Akram.
The footage of the bystander’s actions spread quickly on social media as people praised the man for his bravery, saying his actions had potentially saved many lives.
“Australian hero (random civilian) wrestles gun off attacker and disarms him. Some people are brave and then some people are… whatever this is,” one person said on X, sharing the video.
“This Australian man saved countless lives by stripping the gun off one of the terrorists at Bondi beach. HERO,” another said.
Chris Minns, the premier of New South Wales state, where Sydney is located, said it was the “most unbelievable scene I’ve ever seen”.
“A man walking up to a gunman who had fired on the community and single-handedly disarming him, putting his own life at risk to save the lives of countless other people.”
“That man is a genuine hero, and I’ve got no doubt that there are many, many people alive tonight as a result of his bravery,” he added.
The country’s prime minister Anthony Albanese praised the actions of Australians who had “run towards danger in order to help others”.
“These Australians are heroes and their bravery has saved lives,” he told a news conference.
Messages were sweeping across Sydney within minutes of the attack at Bondi Beach.
Parents messaged their children and teenagers, who had been enjoying a late afternoon swim at Bondi.
Witnesses said police were on the scene quickly, and the streets of Sydney’s eastern suburbs were full of police cars and ambulances on their way to Bondi.
Follow live: 11 people killed at event celebrating Hanukkah
When we arrived, there were still dozens of people processing what had happened, and everywhere – shock.
Witnesses told us that when the gunfire started some people took cover in the North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club. Once the threat was over, lifeguards helped the injured and used surfboards to carry them out.
Witnesses tell Sky’s Nicole Johnston of Bondi ‘warzone’
Some people were clearly traumatised and provided graphic detail of witnessing the shooting and seeing people killed in front of them.
A photographer, Danny, was covering the Jewish holiday event.
Read more: What we know so far
He said he “locked eyes” with one of the gunmen, who then fired towards him. Danny said he was grazed by a bullet. He kept filming during the shooting, while taking cover.
Sam, from France, was working at Bondi. He went to the scene of the attack and saw almost a dozen people lying on the ground covered in blood. Sam described it as like a “war zone”.
Rabbi Lei Wolff, from Central Synagogue in Sydney, went to Bondi as soon as he heard about the mass shooting. A dear friend of his, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, was killed in the attack.
Rabbi Wolff has called on people around the world to stand with Australia’s Jewish community against terrorism.
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