Kunduz, Afghanistan, April 22 (AFP\/APP): A blast ripped through a mosque during Friday prayers in northern Afghanistan, killing 33 people and wounding 43 more, a Taliban spokesman said, just a day after the Islamic State group claimed two separate deadly attacks.<\/p>\n
Since Taliban fighters seized control of Afghanistan last year after ousting the US-backed government, the number of bombings has fallen but the militants and IS has continued with attacks against targets they see as heretical.<\/p>\n
A string of bombings rocked the country this week, with deadly attacks targeting a school and a mosque.<\/p>\n
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted that children were among the 33 dead in the blast on Friday at a mosque in the northern province of Kunduz.<\/p>\n
“We condemn this crime… and express our deepest sympathies to the bereaved,” he said, adding 43 more were wounded.<\/p>\n
Images posted to social media — which could not be immediately verified — showed holes blown through the walls of the Mawlavi Sikandar mosque, popular with Sufis in the Imam Sahib district, north of Kunduz city.<\/p>\n
“The sight at the mosque was horrifying. All those who were worshipping inside the mosque were either injured or killed,” Mohammad Esah, a shopkeeper who helped ferry victims to the district hospital, told AFP.<\/p>\n
“I saw 20 to 30 bodies,” another local resident said.<\/p>\n
Relatives of victims were arriving at hospital to look for their loved ones.<\/p>\n
“My son is martyred,” screamed a man, while a woman accompanied by her four children searched for her husband.<\/p>\n
A nurse told AFP over the phone that between 30 to 40 people had been admitted for treatment of wounds from the blast.<\/p>\n
Kunduz police said they were investigating the type of explosion.<\/p>\n
– Multiple bomb blasts –<\/p>\n
Friday’s blast was one of the biggest attacks since the Taliban seized power in August last year.<\/p>\n
In October, a suicide attack at a mosque, also in Kunduz, killed at least 55 people and wounded scores — an attack also claimed by IS.<\/p>\n
Friday’s blast comes a day after IS claimed a bomb attack at a mosque in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif that killed at least 12 worshippers and left 58 people injured.<\/p>\n
They also claimed a separate attack in Kunduz city on Thursday, which killed four people and wounded 18.<\/p>\n
No group has yet to claim twin blasts on a boys’ school in neighbourhood of Kabul on Tuesday, which killed six and wounded more than 25.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Friday, the Taliban authorities said they had arrested the IS “mastermind” of Thursday’s bombing at the mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif.<\/p>\n
Taliban officials insist their forces have defeated IS, but analysts say the militant group is a key security challenge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kunduz, Afghanistan, April 22 (AFP\/APP): A blast ripped through a mosque during Friday prayers in northern Afghanistan, killing 33 people and wounding 43 more, a Taliban spokesman said, just a day after the Islamic State group claimed two separate deadly attacks. Since Taliban fighters seized […]<\/p>\n
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