Blast at mosque in Afghanistan, death toll rises to 32

Kunduz : A week after the deadly suicide attack in a Shiite mosque in Afghanistan’s Kunduz city, multiple explosions hit a mosque in Kandahar city during the Friday prayers, reported new agencies. A blast occurred in the PD-1 region in the southern province of Kandahar city near Imam Bargah mosque on Friday, sources said. Casualties are feared.

The blast at the mosque in the centre of the town occurred during Friday prayers, the busiest congregation of the week.

A hospital spokesperson told news agency AFP that at least 32 people were killed and 53 wounded in the explosions at the Shiite mosque.

“Thirty-two bodies and 53 wounded people have been brought to our hospital so far,” AFP quoted the medic in the southern city’s central hospital as saying.

Heavy casualties are feared as the blasts occurred during the busiest congregation of the week at the Imam Bargah mosque in Kandahar.

Videos and images posted by local journalists on social media showed dead bodies and critically injured people lying on the floor of the Shiite mosque.

Earlier, a Taliban spokesperson for the interior ministry said that authorities are collecting details on the explosion, reported Reuters. 

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but the Islamic State has been targeting the minority Shiite Muslims in the Sunni-dominated nation.

The Taliban had assured the safety and security of all communities ahead of the final withdrawal of US and Nato troops from Afghanistan. But the local affiliate of ISIS, known as Islamic State Khorasan, have stepped up attacks after the Taliban’s takeover. ISIS-K, also the sworn enemy of the Taliban, killed dozens of civilians and 13 US soldiers outside the Kabul airport in August.