A four-year-old boy who was pictured as police desperately tried to call him to safety while ISIS attacked a mosque in Kabul has been left traumatised after terrorists murdered his grandfather.
Ali Ahmad was in the mosque last week when militant gunmen massacred 28 men and the boy is still suffering nightmares, his father said.
The child was with his grandfather in the Shiite Imam Zaman mosque on Friday when at least four attackers in police uniforms stormed in, one exploding a suicide-bomb vest and the others firing indiscriminately at the hundreds of worshippers inside.
A harrowing picture showed Ali standing alone in the courtyard of the mosque with policemen taking cover behind a doorway calling and waving to him. He survived the attack but his grandfather was among at least 28 killed.
Afghan policemen try to rescue four-year-old Ali Ahmad at the site of a suicide attack followed by a clash between Afghan forces and terrorists after an attack on a Shiite Muslim mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 25, 2017
Ali Ahmad (right), four, plays with his brother at their house after he survived a suicide attack at a mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan
Ali Ahmad, four, sits with his father as they pose for a photograph at their house. Father Sayed Bashir lost his own dad in the attack and now his son is suffering from nightmares
Ali Ahmad, 4, survived a suicide attack which claimed the life of his grandfather who was at the mosque with him
Four-year-old Ali Ahmad plays with a Spongebob Squarepants balloon in his mouth as he sits with his father Sayed Bashir (left) in their house in Afghanistan
Sayed Bashir, Ali’s father, was nearby but not in the mosque when the initial blast was heard and immediately ran to check on his family.
‘Right after the explosion I thought everything was finished,’ he said.
‘I called my father’s mobile phone number and my son answered and said: “They killed grandpa”.
‘We were running everywhere in search of my son but the police were stopping us and didn’t let us get too close.’
Bashir called the number again and was speaking to Ali when another explosion went off.
Afghan men carry a dead body from the site of a suicide attack followed by a clash between Afghan forces and ISIS terrorists
The battered interior of the mosque is laid bare as Afghan worshipers begin the lengthy clean-up operation in the wake of the attack
An Afghan man carries an injured woman who is screaming in pain in a blood-stained dress from the site of a suicide attack where 28 men were killed
Shoes and sandals belonging to victims of a suicide attack on a Shiite mosque are seen in a pile outside the temple a day after the attack in Kabul
People perform prayers for one of the victims of Friday’s attack at a Shiite Muslim mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 26
An armoured military vehicle leaves the site of the terror attack which claimed the lives of 28 men inside on Friday as mourners and military personnel line the streets
Afghan security officials take positions near a Shiite Muslim mosque after an attack during Friday congregational prayers in Kabul. A bomb went off and four gunmen attacked a Shiite mosque in Kabul during Friday noon prayers
A man surveys the premises a day after a bomb went off and four ISIS gunmen. Dozens of bullet holes can be seen in the battered walls and after the bloody battle insice
An aerial view of the damage at ground level inside the mosque where a bomb was detonated followed by a spraying of bullets
‘I lost hope. I said to myself that everything was finished.
‘I tried the number again but it was switched off,’ Bashir said.
In fact, Ali had run around behind the mosque, disregarding the policeman frantically signalling to him in the courtyard.
He was rescued soon afterwards but the effects of the attack may take much longer to heal.
Security was beefed up in the aftermath of the suicide attack as piled of belongings can be seen lined ip outside the blackened mosque in the background
A man searches through the a huge pile of shoes and sandals which were left outside the mosque in the aftermath of the attack
Afghan mourners gather around the coffin of one of the 28 victims of a suicide attack, on a Shiite mosque a day earlier, in Kabul on August 26, 2017
A man inspects the damage inside the mosque a day after a bomb and gunmen ripped through the religious temple
Desperate Afghan civilians flee the site of attack that targeted a Shiite Muslim mosque during Friday congregational prayers in Kabul
An Afghan security official takes his position with an assault rifle as the area surrounding the mosque is put on lock down
An Afghan policeman, with rounds of ammunition strapped to his chest, stands guard in the mosque a day after the attack
Armed officials use a ladder to climb into the roof of the mosque to inspect the damage left behind by the barbaric terrorists
Bashir, a building worker who lives in a district with many Shiite families, said Ali was still traumatised and having difficulty coming to terms with what happened.
‘After the incident, my son has some problems. He’s scared a lot at night,’ he said.
The attack, the latest in a series targeting Shiite mosques, was claimed by Islamic State Khorasan, the local branch of Islamic State which takes the name of an old region that included what is now Afghanistan.
According to the United Nations, at least 62 civilians have been killed and 119 injured in six separate attacks on Shiite mosques this year.