Summary Fatemah Qaderyan says her father was her greatest support. Photo courtesy: The Guardian
(Web Desk) - The bloody attack on a mosque in Herat, western Afghanistan took the lives of 36 victims including the father of a teenage girl who had recently captained an all-female team to the US in a robotics competition.
According to Al Jazeera, Fatemah Qaderyan, the 14-year-old Afghan robotics team captain lost her father in the explosion.
The team’s coach, Ali Reza Mehrban, told Al Jazeera that Fatemah was "grieving" after the attack and that her father "could not survive the injuries and lost his life,"
As news of her father’s death spread many users on social media offered condolences to Fatemah and her family. Users also stated to Fatemah that her father would have been proud of her achievement.
Condolences to Team Afghanistan s captain,Fatemah whose father passed away in recent attack by ISIS in Herat.His daughter made him so proud pic.twitter.com/9StgUjdHPc
— Roya Mahboob (@RoyaMahboob) August 3, 2017
The youngest mmber of the #Afghan robotic team has reportedly lost his father in #HERAT explosion #Afghanistanisbleeding
— Ahmad Khalid Hakimi (@khalidhakimi) August 3, 2017
My father is my greatest supporter without him I couldn t succeed. Said Fatima. ISIS took her supporter.#Herat pic.twitter.com/KavW6nVo1G
— Nazila Jamshidi (@DidYouKnowGirls) August 3, 2017
The Afghan robotics team had caught international media attention when they had twice travelled 800km to the American embassy in Kabul, only to have their visa applications denied.
They had been finally granted visas after their story had gained publicity. At the competition the team had won a silver medal for courageous achievement and the event’s judges had praised the group’s “can do attitude”.
The Herat attack had targeted a Shia mosque and had been claimed by the Islamic State. All those killed had been reportedly civilians and the attack had drawn anti-government rallies in what is usually regarded as one of Afghanistan’s safest cities.
