KUNDUZ: Over 50 people were killed as a deadly bomb blast targeted a mosque in Afghanistan’s Kunduz city Friday.
Interior ministry spokesman Qari Sayed Khosti confirmed the blast to AFP, without giving details. Local residents told AFP the blast hit the mosque during the Friday prayers, the most important of the week.
According to Reuters, video footage showed bodies surrounded by debris inside the mosque that is used by people from the minority Shi’ite community.
No group immediately claimed responsibility. The blast followed several attacks, including one at a mosque in Kabul, in recent weeks, some of which have been claimed by the militant group, Daesh.
The attacks have underscored security challenges for the Taliban, which took over the country in August and have since carried out operations against Daesh cells in Kabul.
“This afternoon, an explosion took place in a mosque of our Shi’ite compatriots … as a result of which a number of our compatriots were martyred and wounded,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter.
An apparent bomb attack on worshippers at a mosque in the Afghan city of Kunduz killed at least 50 people Friday, in the bloodiest assault since US forces left the country.
Scores more victims were wounded in the blast, which has not been claimed but appears designed to further destabilise Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover.
A medical source at the Kunduz Provincial Hospital said that 35 dead and more than 50 wounded had been taken there, while a worker at a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital reported 15 dead and scores more wounded.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid had earlier said an unknown number of people had been killed and injured when “an explosion took place in a mosque of our Shia compatriots” in Kunduz.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State group, arch-rival of the Taliban, has claimed similar recent atrocities.
Residents of Kunduz, the capital of a province of the same name, told AFP the blast hit the mosque during Friday prayers.
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.
Frightened crowds
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.”
Kunduz’s location makes it a key transit point for economic and trade exchanges with Tajikistan.
It was the scene of fierce battles as the Taliban fought their way back into power this year.
