An explosion erupted at a Sunni Muslim temple during Friday prayers in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, killing 33 people and injuring dozens, officials said.
Though explosion ripped through a mosque at Friday service, police said, with eyewitnesses reporting hundreds of injuries. The blast hit the MawlaviSikandar Mosque north of Kunduz town, provincial police spokesman ObaidullahAbedi told AFP. “At the moment we have no information about the type of explosion or people injured,” he said.
ZabihullahMujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, tweeted the death toll and said 43 people were also injured. Pictures posted on social media that could not be immediately verified showed holes drilled in the walls of the mosque. A nurse at a nearby regional hospital told AFP by telephone that between 30 and 40 people had been injured in the incident.
“People had gathered to worship at the Mosque, and there was a huge explosion,” an eyewitness told AFP by telephone. “There were dozens of people injured, about 30 to 40 people injured and killed.The perpetrators of these incidents arebad things and strong efforts are being made to arrest and punish them,” he said. It was not immediately clear who caused the blast, which the mayor said he had hit a mosque during Friday prayers.
Explosives targeted the northern cities
Several Islamic State-targeted explosives targeted the northern cities of Kunduz and Mazar-i-Sharif on Thursday. One of them, in a Muslim temple and some days ago at a school west of Kabul, was referring to minority Shi’ites. Earlier on Friday, Taliban authorities said they had arrested an IS “intelligence” bomber on Thursday at a mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif.
Since Taliban militants took control of Afghanistan last year after the overthrow of the US-backed government, the number of bombings has dropped but jihadists and Sunni IS have continued to attack – often against Shiites.
Taliban defeated IS
Taliban officials say their forces have defeated IS, but analysts say the jihadist group is a major security threat.The United Nations Security Council has issued a statement on Afghanistan, strongly condemning the series of terrorist attacks; this follows some recent attacks on people and infrastructure, including minority religious communities, across the country.
Taliban leaders in Afghanistan say they have defended the country since taking power in August, but international officials and analysts say the risk of a military outbreak remains.
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