At least 100 dead, injured in Afghan mosque blast
An explosion went off Friday among Shiite Muslim worshippers at a mosque in northern Afghanistan, killing or wounding at least 100 people, a Taliban police official said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which took place in Kunduz, the capital of Kunduz province, but militants from the Islamic State group have a long history of attacking Afghanistan’s Shiite Muslim minority.
Dost Mohammad Obaida, the deputy police chief for Kunduz province, said that the “majority of them have been killed.” He said the attack may have been carried out by a suicide bomber who mingled among the worshippers.
“I assure our Shiite brothers that the Taliban are prepared to ensure their
safety,” Obaida said, adding that an investigation was underway. If confirmed, a death toll of dozens would be the highest since US and NATO forces left Afghanistan at the end of August and the Taliban took control of the country. The Taliban have been targeted in a series of deadly IS attacks, including shooting ambushes and an explosion at a mosque in the capital of Kabul.