Afghanistan: At least 100 worshippers were killed or injured in mosque explosion-News

A Taliban police official said an explosion in a mosque in northern Afghanistan on Friday killed or injured at least 100 people.

Dost Mohammad Obaida, deputy police chief of Kunduz Province, said that “most of them have been killed”.

There was no immediate claim to be responsible for the explosion in Kunduz City, the capital of Kunduz Province, but Daesh militants have a long history of attacking Afghan minorities.

If confirmed, the death toll of dozens of people will be the highest since the United States and NATO troops left Afghanistan at the end of August and the Taliban took control of the country. The Taliban have been the target of a series of deadly attacks by Da’esh, including an ambush and explosion in a mosque in the capital Kabul.

The explosion occurred during the weekly Friday prayer service in the Gozar-e-Sayed Abad mosque. Prayer at noon on Friday is the highlight of Muslim religious week, and mosques are usually crowded. Witness Ali Reza said he was praying when the explosion occurred and reported seeing many casualties.

Photos and videos at the scene showed that rescuers carried a corpse wrapped in a blanket from the mosque to an ambulance. The stairs at the entrance of the mosque were covered with blood.

Earlier Friday, the Taliban’s chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that the mosque was the target and that a “large number” of believers were killed and injured. He said that the Taliban special forces have arrived at the scene and are investigating the incident.

The Taliban leadership has been struggling to deal with the growing threat from the local Da’esh affiliate (known as the Da’esh in Khorasan). Islamic State militants have stepped up their attacks against their opponents, including two deadly bombings in Kabul.

The Islamic State has also attacked religious minorities in Afghanistan. The local Islamic State affiliate also claimed responsibility for the terrible bombing incident on August 26, which killed at least 169 Afghans and 13 American soldiers outside the Kabul Airport in the last few days of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan.