Ashura: why holy day brings fear for Afghan Shias

Millions of Shia Muslims in deeply religious Afghanistan are bracing for violence as they prepare to commemorate Ashura, one of the holiest days in the Islamic calendar.

Expectations that the Islamic State group will strike have alarmed Shias, particularly in Kabul where IS militants have carried out devastating attacks in recent weeks.

Here are some key facts about the sacred day, which falls on Thursday.

One of the most important festivals for Shia Muslims falls on the 10th day of Muharram, which is the mourning period for the seventh-century killing of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

Ashura marks the murder of Hussein and his family in the year 680. His tragic end laid the foundation for the faith practiced by the Shia community. For Shias around the world, Ashura is a symbol of the struggle against oppression.

There are around three million Shias in overwhelmingly Sunni Afghanistan and the majority belong to the Hazara ethnic group.[embed:render:embedded:node:26690]On the Ashura day Shias across the country gather at mosques and shrines for ceremonial mourning that involves beating their chests, slapping their faces and hitting their backs with chains until they bleed to commemorate the violent deaths of Hussein and his family. The faithful also drive in convoys through the streets carrying colourful flags and playing songs dedicated to Hussein.

The Taliban, who follow the Sunni branch of Islam, have been accused of committing human rights violations against the Shias during their 1996-2001 rule in Afghanistan.

The emergence of the Islamic State group in Afghanistan in recent years has seen attacks against the minority group escalate. Sunni IS jihadists consider Shias apostates and have launched numerous assaults on their mosques and other locations and massacred hundreds of people.

Ashura has become a major target for IS. In 2016, an IS-claimed attack on a Kabul shrine killed at least 18 people gathering to mark the festival. Last year, six people were killed when a suicide bomber posing as a shepherd blew himself up near a mosque in Kabul as Shias prepared to mark Ashura.

In the most recent major attack, a double bombing at a wrestling club in a Shia neighbourhood of Kabul this month killed at least 26 people and wounded 91.    (AFP)