Explosion hits mosque in Afghanistan, killing at least 33 civilians

ISLAMABAD — At least 33 civilians, including children, were killed in an explosion inside a mosque in Afghanistan’s northern Kunduz province, officials said on Friday.

The Taliban’s government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said another 43 were wounded in the attack that happened in the Imam Sahib district of the province.

A local official in the province said the blast has targeted a Sufi mosque called Mawlawi Sikandar.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but the Islamic State terrorist group is the prime suspect.

A new wave of violence is targeting the war-torn country after a period of relative calm.

Dozens of people have been killed in a series of attacks in the country in the past couple of days.

Two major attacks targeted a mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif and school students in Kabul this week.

In Mazar-i-Sharif, an improvised explosive device detonated in a Shiite mosque in the city centre at prayer time, according to a Taliban police spokesman Mohammad Asif Waziri.

At least 20 people were killed and dozens injured in that attack, a doctor in the provincial capital told DPA. Witnesses put the death toll much higher, saying at least 50 people were killed.

On Tuesday, there was a devastating attack on a school in the capital Kabul, in which numerous people were killed. Local reports said that up to 25 people were killed, but the authorities did not give any exact information.

Several smaller attacks have occured around the country over the past week.

The Islamic State group claimed several of the attacks, including the mosque attack in Mazar-i-Sharif.

The Islamic State, which made its appearance in Afghanistan at the beginning of 2015 and wants to establish a dominion primarily in the east and in areas of neighbouring Pakistan, claims a large share of the violence.

Once declared defeated, Islamic State remains active today and regularly carries out attacks against Shiites and the Taliban, who retook power in Afghanistan in August 2021.