A powerful explosion killed more than 50 worshippers after Friday prayers at a Kabul mosque, its leader said, the latest in a series of attacks on civilian targets in Afghanistan during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, APA reports quoting Reuters.
The blast hit the Khalifa Sahib Mosque in the west of the capital in the early afternoon, said Besmullah Habib, deputy spokesman for the interior ministry, who said the official confirmed death toll was 10.
The attack came as worshippers at the Sunni mosque gathered after Friday prayers for a congregation known as Zikr - an act of religious remembrance practised by some Muslims but seen as heretical by some hardline Sunni groups.
Sayed Fazil Agha, the head of the mosque, said someone they believed was a suicide bomber joined them in the ceremony and detonated explosives.
"Black smoke rose and spread everywhere, dead bodies were everywhere," he told Reuters, adding that his nephews were among the dead. "I myself survived, but lost my beloved ones."
Resident Mohammad Sabir said he had seen wounded people being loaded into ambulances.
"The blast was very loud, I thought my eardrums were cracked," he said.
Emergency Hospital in downtown Kabul said it was treating 21 patients and two were dead on arrival. A nurse at another hospital, who declined to be identified, said it had received several wounded in critical condition. A health source said hospitals had so far received at least 30 bodies in total.
A spokemsan for the ruling Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, released a statement condemning the blast and saying the perpetrators would be found and punished.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible.
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19.14
At least five people were killed and 20 wounded after an explosion at a mosque in the Afghan capital, Kabul, after Friday prayers, said Khalid Zadran, Taliban spokesperson for the chief of police—but eyewitnesses said they feared many more had died, APA reports quoting CNN.
The blast occurred in the Serahi Alauddin area of the city, private Afghan channel TOLO news reported citing an eyewitness.
Emergency, an non-governmental organization that offers free medical and surgical treatment to Afghan civilians, said in a tweet that 20 wounded people had been treated at its hospital following the explosion.
A series of deadly blasts, mainly targeting the Hazara Shia community, has rocked several Afghan cities over the past two weeks.
Most of the recent attacks were claimed by ISIS affiliate group and Taliban rival ISIS-Khorsan (ISIS-K). Friday's explosion has yet to be claimed by any group.
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