Daily Times

A bomb blast at a mosque in northern Afghanistan killed at least one worshipper and wounded seven others during Friday midday prayers, police said. The explosion occurred in the northern province of Kunduz in a district where dozens of worshippers had been killed in April in a similar bomb attack.

Provincial police spokesman Qari Obaidullah Abedi said one person had been killed in Friday’s blast at the Alif Birdi mosque in Imam Shahib district.

“The explosives were placed inside the mosque,” he told AFP. A witness who spoke on condition of anonymity said the bomb exploded just as worshippers finished prayers and were preparing to leave the mosque.

The explosive device was placed not far from where the prayer leader, who was wounded, had delivered the sermon, he said. A medic at the provincial hospital confirmed the toll of dead and wounded. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan from a US-backed government last year has seen the number of bombings in the country fall, but the Islamic State (IS) armed group has continued to target minority communities and others in attacks. A string of bombings hit the country during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ended in Afghanistan on April 30, some of them claimed by IS.

On April 22, a blast at a mosque in Imam Shahib district killed at least 36 worshippers and wounded scores more in one of the deadliest attacks to take place since the Taliban returned to power. That blast targeted members of the minority Sufi community who were performing rituals after Friday prayers. The regional IS branch in Sunni-majority Afghanistan has repeatedly attacked Shiites and minorities like Sufis, who it says are heretics. Taliban officials insist their forces have defeated IS, but analysts say the jihadist group is a key security challenge for Afghanistan’s current rulers.