The attack Saturday night has mystified authorities and a government investigation has come up empty handed, with no suspects so far, Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday ordered a report on the probe, according to his spokesman, Ajmal Abidy.
Attacks on mosques are rare in Afghanistan, even with a history of enmity between the majority Sunnis and the Shiites who make up about 15 percent of the population.
It is widely admired for its philosophy of tolerance and forgiveness, and includes free thinkers, scientists and poets, including Rumi and Omar Khayyam.
In Afghanistan, Sufis are among the tiny communities of religious minorities that also include Ismaelis, Hindus, Sikhs and a Jew. An unknown number of Christians practice secretly, fearing persecution despite a constitutional guarantee of religious freedoms.
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The shootings at the mosque, built behind a parking lot in a shabby western suburb of the capital, Kabul, took place as Pir Saheb Mohammed Bahadur Jan led the evening prayers.
He was recounting the scene described to him by the sole survivor of the attack, Ahmad Zia. Bahaduri had gone home to pray because there was no electricity at the mosque. The prayer room was lit by the dull flame of a gas lamp.
Zia survived by hiding under the bodies of the others, said Abdul Nahim Ahmadzai, a close friend of the Bahadur family. "He told us later that a gunman shouted in Pashto: 'No one should be left alive'," Ahmadzai said, referring to the language of southern Afghanistan, where the Taliban originated.
Sitting cross-legged on a crimson carpet, his brother's three young sons nearby, Bahaduri was incredulous that no senior government official had visited the mosque or contacted him since the attack.