Afghanistan: bombing at packed Kabul mosque kills 21, including prominent cleric
- Taliban spokesman vows perpetrators will be punished after blast ripped through Kabul mosque packed with worshippers
- Wednesday’s blast came nearly a week after a suicide attack claimed by Isis killed a top Taliban cleric at his madrasa
A bombing at a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul during evening prayers on Wednesday killed at least 21 people, including a prominent cleric, and wounded at least 33, an eyewitness and police said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, the latest to strike the country in the year since the Taliban seized power. Several children were reported to be among the wounded.
“The blast was caused by explosives placed inside the mosque,” Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said on Thursday. He said 21 people were killed and 33 wounded.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid vowed that the “perpetrators of such crimes will soon be brought to justice and will be punished”.
Islamic State’s local affiliate has stepped up attacks targeting the Taliban and civilians since the former insurgents’ takeover last August as US and Nato troops were in the final stages of their withdrawal from the country.
Last week, the Isis claimed responsibility for killing a prominent Taliban cleric at his religious centre in Kabul.
According to the eyewitness, a resident of the city’s Kher Khanna neighbourhood where the Siddiquiya Mosque was targeted on Wednesday, the explosion was carried out by a suicide bomber.
The slain cleric was Mullah Amir Mohammad Kabuli, the eyewitness said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media.
Emergency Hospital, a facility run by an Italian NGO that specialises in treating victims of war, said in a statement it had admitted 27 people, including five children, who had been wounded in the blasts.
Two people had arrived dead and one patient died in the emergency room, Emergency’s Afghanistan country director Stefano Sozza said.
In August the hospital had treated 80 patients from six different mass casualty events, which includes major incidents such as blasts and mass shootings.
“The country is suffering the consequences of a very long conflict that has undermined its future,” Sozza said.
There were fears the casualty numbers could rise further. On Thursday morning, one witness to the blast who gave his name as Qyaamuddin said he believed as many as 25 people may have been killed in the blast.
“It was evening prayer time, and I was attending the prayer with others, when the explosion happened,” Qyaamuddin said. Some Afghans go by a single name.
A US-led invasion toppled the previous Taliban government, which had hosted al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Since regaining power, the former insurgents have faced a crippling economic crisis as the international community, which does not recognise the Taliban government, froze funding to the country.
Separately, the Taliban confirmed on Wednesday that they had captured and killed Mehdi Mujahid in western Herat province as he was trying to cross the border into Iran.
Mujahid was a former Taliban commander in the district of Balkhab in northern Sar-e-Pul province, and the only member of the minority Shiite Hazara community among the Taliban ranks.
Mujahid had turned against the Taliban over the past year, after opposing decisions made by Taliban leaders in Kabul.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse and Reuters
