Afghan Eid ceasefire calm shattered as 12 die in mosque blast

A bomb ripped through a mosque in northern Kabul during Friday prayers and killed 12 worshippers, Afghan police have said.

Spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz said the mosque’s imam, Mofti Naiman, was among the dead. Another 15 people were wounded. The bomb exploded as prayers had begun.

No one claimed responsibility for the bombing, but initial police investigations suggest the Imam may have been the target, Faramarz said.

A worshipper at the mosque, Muhibullah Sahebzada, said he had just stepped into the mosque when the explosion went off. Stunned, he heard the sound of screams, including children, as smoke filled the mosque. Sahebzada said he saw several bodies on the mosque floor and at least one child was among the wounded.

It appeared the explosive device was hidden inside the pulpit at the front of the mosque. An image circulating on social media showed three bodies lying on the floor of the mosque, which showed minor damage.

The explosion comes on the second day of a three-day ceasefire announced by the warring Taliban and Afghan government. The pause was for the Islamic festival Eid-ul-fitr.

Until now many of the attacks in the capital have been claimed by the local Islamic State affiliate, but both the Taliban and government blame each other.

United States pulls out of Kandahar military base

The United States has completed its withdrawal from Kandahar airfield in southern Afghanistan, once the second largest military base in the country for US forces, officials said on Friday. Kandahar province was the birthplace of the Taliban and has in recent months seen intense clashes between the resurgent militants and Afghan forces.

US airstrikes were launched from the base just last week to help Afghan forces push back a major Taliban offensive.

“They have not officially handed over the base to us but I can confirm they left the base on Wednesday,” said Khoja Yaya Alawi, a spokesman for the Afghan army in Kandahar.

An official handover is expected to take place after the Muslim holiday of Eid, which ends on Saturday, they said.