Taliban arrested ISIS 'mastermind' suspected of Afghan mosque blast, has been involved in many terrorist attacks

Kabul: Taliban forces have arrested a suspected ISIS terrorist who planned a bomb attack on a Shia mosque in Afghanistan that killed at least 12 worshipers. Police said on Friday.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Seh Dokan mosque during afternoon prayers in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif on Thursday. 58 people were also injured in this attack.

The arrested man is a key operative of ISIS

According to the news agency AFP, Balkh province's police spokesman Asif Waziri said that the arrested man Abdul Hameed Sangyar is a key operative of ISIS. "This is the mastermind of yesterday's attack on the mosque," he said.

"Sangyar played a key role in several attacks in the past and managed to escape repeatedly, but this time we arrested him in a special operation," Waziri said.

ISIS also claimed responsibility for a separate bomb attack on Thursday in another northern city of Kunduz, in which four people were killed and 18 were injured.

ISIS is attacking the Shia community

ISIS has claimed responsibility for often deadly attacks against the Shia community in Afghanistan. Shia Afghans are mostly from the Hazara ethnic community and makeup between 10 and 20 percent of the country's 38 million people. He has long been a target of ISIS, which considers him a heretic.

Earlier this week at least six people were killed in twin blasts at a boys' school in a Shia-dominated area of ​​Kabul. However, no group has claimed the attack so far.

Questions are being raised about Taliban's claim

Taliban officials say their forces have defeated ISIS, but analysts say the jihadist group remains a major security threat. The Taliban regularly raid suspected ISIS targets.

Also Read: Afghanistan Bomb Blast At least 50 people were killed in a major bomb blast in a mosque during Friday prayers in Kunduz, Afghanistan