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At least 60 dead, 45 wounded in two separate attacks on mosques in Afghanistan
Nearly 60 people were killed when suicide bombers detonated explosives in two separate mosque attacks in Afghanistan on Friday, officials said, capping a bloody week in the war-torn country.
A gunman opened fire on worshippers in a Shia mosque in Kabul before he blew himself up on Friday evening, police said, in the latest attack to hit the Afghan capital.
An Afghan official at the interior ministry said the Kabul bombing killed at least 30 people and wounded 45.
Hours later, at least 10 people were killed in a second attack when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a Sunni mosque in central Ghor province, officials said.
Ghor attack
A senior local police commander, who is believed to have been the target of the attack on a Sunni mosque in the Dolaina district of Ghor province, is among the dead, district governor Mohsen Danishyar told AFP.
Danishyar put the death toll of the Ghor attack as high as 30, but Ghor provincial governor Naser Khazeh told AFP that he could only confirm 10 deaths.
Two attacks in southeast Afghanistan killed 80 people and wounded nearly 300 on Tuesday, one of the bloodiest day in the war-torn country in almost five months.
On Thursday, 43 Afghan soldiers were killed in another suicide attack on a military base in Kandahar. All three attacks targeted security officials and were claimed by the Taliban.
Kabul bombing
“A suicide bomber entered the mosque in Police District 13 of Kabul city. The attacker opened fire on worshippers,” Kabul Crime Branch chief Gen Mohammad Salim Almas told AFP.
Maj Gen Alimast Momand said the attacker was on foot and walked into the mosque in the city's Dashti Barch area.
“Unfortunately this evening a suicide bomber detonated himself among the worshippers inside a mosque in Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood of Kabul city,” Kabul police spokesman Abdul Basir Mujahid told AFP.
Interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish confirmed the attack toll on Twitter.
“I was in the mosque bathroom when I heard a blast. I rushed inside the mosque and saw all the worshippers covered in blood,” Hussain Ali told AFP. “Some of the wounded were fleeing. I tried to stop someone to help me help the wounded but everyone was in a panic. It took ambulances and the police about an hour to reach the area.”
No group has claimed responsibility so far. However, recent assaults on Shia mosques have been carried out by the militant Islamic State (IS) group.
The last attack on a Shia mosque in Kabul happened on September 29 as Muslims prepared to commemorate Ashura, one of the holiest days in the Islamic calendar.
Six people were killed when a suicide bomber posing as a shepherd blew him up near Hussainia mosque, one of the biggest Shia centres in the city, as worshippers gathered for Friday prayers.
Social media users launched an online campaign calling on people to donate blood for the wounded being treated at two hospitals.
Comments (29) Closed
extremely said.. I pray for the martyred and their families.
Sad.
Sad
Very Sad
Rest in peace brothers. When will this mayhem end..
Its US routine tactic to ignite sectarian hatred ISIS remains the character
I would like to see fellow fellow Pakistanis condemning it like attacks on Rohingya Muslims.
OMG have mercy on us .
We must strongly condemn violence on innocent humans, more so of devoted worshipers. These terrorism cases must be investigated quickly and the masterminds apprehended, charged and convicted. My heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims.
ISIS, not Taliban.
Extreamly sad for entire Muslim world. What we get from killing, let's spend our resources in helping poor
Extremely sad to hear about the daily destruction and burning of Afghanistan. Can Turkey, Pakistan, Iran and Tajikistan send peacekeepers there to end this violence? I'm sure something can be done to bring peace.
Only calling it sad won't stop this menace. We need to go into the root cause of it. Why it is happening? What is wrong with us? Why some people doing these dastaredly acts considering themselves serving the god? What is written in our holy books and who are interpreting and correlating it with the modern world? Why a parallel 'religious' administration is running in our society and how it is getting strenght to throw challenges to the authority? Who have allowed them to say the final words in our vaccination programme, child marriage, school curriculum, women rights, minority affairs, foreign policies and what not? Until and unless we mercilessly show them who is in control here and make them falling in line, these bloodshed won't stop. We need to get the djin back into the bottle and seal it.
Definitely SECTARIAN violence. People who bomb prayer houses, schools, and public places have lost the human touch in their pursuit of ideology. What is A solution? I think THE solution lies in their leaders and elders ---and education of women and girls.
Looks like terrorism is increasing due to US troops in the country. Recently in Afghanistan terrorism declined until few months when US announced to increase its troops in the country when terrorism was declining. Now its time to blame Pakistan who is also a victim of terrorism. Im sure majority of Afghan brothers understand the propaganda against blaming Pakistan.
Pakistan and Afghanistan must work together to rid their countries off the menace of terrorism, intolerance, mostly propagated by the foreign funded seminaries. But the corrupt and incompetent political leaders are found hand in hand with many of them just to gain a few thousand votes. We all must unit and raise common voice against these butchers, even if they hold encroached state land in the capital cities.
Indian playing double game with Afghanistan and Pakistan. Wake up Afghan and Pak.
RIP my Afghan family.
This is so heart breaking to see when will this come to an halt.
Please come to Pakistan it's much safer than Afghanistan we have so much empty land in Sindh alone.
Very sad :( Condolence to the deceased's families. America & India are using Afghanis against pakistan. Muslims should be aware against their propaganda. feeling very sad.
This is barbarism.All peace loving people must condemn this savage act.
When will we humans learn to be peaceful? No other creature kills without reason.
I condemn this attack on prayer hall.
There are around 150 known terror groups across the world claiming that they are fighting for Muslims snd 'true' Islam. No need to say more but to look inside, think and act.
so sad
very sad
The Afghan Government need to take steps to avoid such incidents.The people of Afghanistan only suffer.Afghanistan is now pitch for World Politics Eleven. Try to pick the best of the best apple from the basket for the benefit of Afghan peoples.No one other can solve this problem other than Afghan peoples.
When will this stop? Afghan Government needs to seriously review its securtiy
may GOD bless the dead , sad news indeed
Afsos