Several killed in Afghanistan mosque explosion

Several people have been killed and dozens of others wounded after a bomb blast at a mosque in the Afghan capital, Kabul during evening prayers, according to police.

A security official told Al Jazeera that 20 people were killed in the blast and 40 others wounded.

Italian non-governmental organization (NGO) Emergency, which operates a hospital in the capital, said it was treating 27 patients who had been wounded in the blast, three of whom had died. Five of the wounded were children.

Taliban government spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed there were dead and wounded, but did not specify how many.

He wrote in his Twitter “The murderers of civilians and perpetrators will soon be punished for their crimes.”

Kabul police spokesman, Khalid Zadran said in a statement that there were multiple casualties, but also did not give a toll.
“A blast happened inside a mosque, the blast has casualties, but the numbers are not clear yet.”

Witnesses said the powerful explosion targeted the Siddiquiya Mosque in the northern Kabul neighbourhood of Khair Khanna, shattering windows in nearby buildings.

Imam of the Moque, Mullah Amir Muhammad was among the dead.

Intelligence teams were at the site of the explosion, and investigations were continuing.

Despite the Taliban’s assertion that they have brought security to the nation, Afghanistan has seen regular attacks by armed groups, many of them claimed by an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) affiliate known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K), in recent months.

Last week, a prominent Taliban religious leader, Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani, was killed in a bombing attack at a seminary in Kabul, Taliban officials said, the ISIS armed group claimed responsibility for the attack.