UN deplores deadly Kabul mosque attack

Kabul [Afghanistan], August 19 (ANI): The UN mission in Afghanistan has condemned a fatal attack in Kabul that ripped through the crowded mosque during evening prayers on Wednesday, killing 21 people and injuring dozens of others.
"We deplore yesterday's attack in a Kabul Mosque, the latest in a disturbing series of bombings which have killed and injured more than 250 people in recent weeks, the highest monthly number of civilian casualties over the last year," UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a statement posted on Twitter on Thursday.
The UN has called on the Taliban authorities to take concrete steps to prevent all forms of terrorism in Afghanistan amid the deteriorating security situation in the country. "Vulnerable communities should be provided additional support and perpetrators brought to justice," the UN mission said.
In a strong statement, UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett said crimes against these victims are also crimes against us all.
"Another targeted explosion yesterday in Kabul reportedly killed 21 and injured 33, including children. Maybe Kabul isn't your city, but imagine if it were. The crimes against these victims are also crimes against us all. We cannot accept normalisation of an environment of terror," Bennett tweeted.
This latest bombing in Kabul comes days after the suicide bombing assassination of Rahimullah Haqqani, a prominent cleric who supported the Taliban and was in favour of female education. The Da'esh terrorist network claimed responsibility for the attack.
News agencies have reported that senior Taliban officials are meeting on Thursday with more than 2,000 tribal and religious elders in Afghanistan's second city Kandahar to take "important decisions".
Last week, a group of UN independent rights experts urged the global community to dramatically increase efforts to encourage the de facto authorities in the country to adhere to basic human rights principles.
"The future is immensely bleak for Afghans if more is not done by the international community to ensure the Taliban changes its modus operandi and complies with its human rights obligations," they were quoted as saying by UN News.
Amidst a "plethora" of human rights violations, the Taliban has virtually erased women and girls from society.
"Nowhere else in the world has there been as widespread, systematic and all-encompassing an attack on the rights of women and girls - every aspect of their lives is being restricted under the guise of morality and through the instrumentalization of religion. Discrimination and violence cannot be justified on any ground," they had detailed. (ANI)