KABUL – A suicide bomber struck on Friday through a mosque in Afghanistan’s northeastern Kunduz province, killing and injuring more than 100 people, a UN agency said.
“Preliminary information indicates more than 100 people killed and wounded in a suicide bombing inside the mosque,” the UN mission to Afghanistan said in a tweet.
Video footage showed bodies surrounded by rubbish inside the mosque used by people from the minority Shi’ite Muslim community, according to Reuters.
The blast followed several attacks, including one at a mosque in Kabul, in recent weeks, some of which have been claimed by militants from Islamic State.
The attacks have highlighted security challenges for the Taliban, which took over the country in August and have since conducted operations against Islamic State cells in Kabul.
“This afternoon, an explosion took place in a mosque of our Shi’ite compatriots … as a result, a number of our compatriots were martyred and wounded,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter.
Residents of Kunduz, the capital of a province of the same name, told AFP the blast hit a Shiite mosque during Friday prayers, the most important of the week for Muslims.
Zalmai Alokzai, a local businessman who rushed to Kunduz Provincial Hospital to check whether doctors needed blood donations, described horrific scenes.
“Ambulances were going back to the incident scene to carry the dead,” he said.
An international aid worker at the MSF hospital in the city told AFP there were fears the death toll could rise.
“Hundreds of people are gathered at the main gate of the hospital and crying for their relatives but armed Taliban guys are trying to prevent gatherings in case another explosion is planned,” he said.
Graphic images shared on social media, which could not immediately be verified, showed several bloodied bodies lying on the floor. Pictures showed plumes of smoke rising into the air over Kunduz.
Another video showed men shepherding people, including women and children, away from the scene. Frightened crowds thronged the streets.
Aminullah, an eyewitness whose brother was at the mosque, told AFP: “After I heard the explosion, I called my brother but he did not pick up.
“I walked towards the mosque and found my brother wounded and faint. We immediately took him to the MSF hospital.”
A female teacher in Kunduz told AFP the blast happened near her house, and several of her neighbours were killed. “It was a very terrifying incident,” she said.
“Many of our neighbours have been killed and wounded. “A 16-year-old neighbour was killed. They couldn’t find half of his body. Another neighbour who was 24 was killed as well.”
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