Afghanistan: Blast at Kabul Mosque kills more than 50
New Delhi: The deadliest blast at Mosque in Afghanistan’s Kabul – has killed more than 50 worshippers after Friday prayer. The emergency hospital in downtown Kabul said: “it was treating 21 patients wounded in the blast, and two were dead on arrival.” A nurse at another hospital, who declined to be identified, said it had received several people in a critical condition.
Besmullah Habib – The deputy spokesperson for the interior ministry said that the blast hit the Khalifa Sahib mosque in the west of the capital in the early afternoon.
The attack came as worshippers at the Sunni mosque gathered after Friday prayers for a congregation known as Zikr – an act of remembrance practiced by some Muslims but seen as heretical by several Sunni groups.
Sayed Fazil Agha – the head of the mosque said that “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, and my nephews were among the dead. I survived but lost my beloved ones.”
The Taliban rulers say they have secured the country since taking power in August and largely eliminated IS’s local offshoot. However, international officials and analysts say the risk of a militant resurgence remains.
Many of the attacks have targeted the Shia minority but Sunni mosques have also been attacked.
(Smit Soni)
