Why did Isis-K say its suicide bomber was Uygur?

Name: Taliban seizes Kunduz, 4 other provincial capitals as fighting escalates with Afghan forces
Uploaded: 2021-10-10T02:00:29.000Z
Duration: 2 min 34 s
Description: Taliban seizes Kunduz, 4 other provincial capitals as fighting escalates with Afghan forces

The militant group took the rare move to identify the ethnicity of the attacker on a mosque in Afghanistan

The decision could be an effort to attract international attention, particularly from China, observer says

Reading Time:3 minutes

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People carry the body of a bombing victim in Kunduz province, northern Afghanistan, on Friday. Photo: AP

Laura Zhou

Published: 10:00am, 10 Oct 2021Updated: 12:48am, 11 Oct 2021

An Afghan militant group’s unusual decision to identify one of its suicide bombers as a member of the Uygur ethnic group could be an attempt to gain international attention and put pressure on China over its policy in Xinjiang, analysts said.

Islamic State-Khorasan (Isis-K), the Afghanistan branch of the Syria- and Iraq-based network, claimed responsibility for an attack at a packed Shiite mosque in Kunduz in northern Afghanistan on Friday.

At least 55 worshipers were killed and more than 140 wounded in the attack, the deadliest in the six weeks since US troops officially withdrew from its 20-year war in Afghanistan.

In a rare move, Isis-K said the attacker was an ethnic Uygur, a member of the Muslim minority that has allegedly been subjected to indoctrination, torture and forced labour in China’s far western region of Xinjiang. Beijing claims its policies in the region are designed to develop the resource-rich region into a trade route to Central Asia, helping to manage ethnic tensions, fight extremism and reduce poverty.

Although the Isis-K claim has not been verified, it is the first time the group has linked a bomber to an ethnic group in China.

02:34

Taliban seizes Kunduz, 4 other provincial capitals as fighting escalates with Afghan forces

Raffaello Pantucci, a senior fellow with S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said that if the claim were true, it could deepen Beijing’s concerns about Afghanistan becoming a base for Uygur fighters seeking independence for Xinjiang.

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Why did Isis-K say its suicide bomber was Uygur?

The militant group took the rare move to identify the ethnicity of the attacker on a mosque in Afghanistan The decision could be an effort to attract international attention, particularly from China, observer says

The militant group took the rare move to identify the ethnicity of the attacker on a mosque in Afghanistan

The decision could be an effort to attract international attention, particularly from China, observer says