At least 33 killed in mosque bombing in northern Afghanistan

Kabul, Apr 22 (EFE).- At least 33 people were killed and dozens injured on Friday in a bombing at a mosque in northern Afghanistan, marking the latest in a series of attacks against places of worship in the country during the ongoing holy month of Ramadan.

The explosion took place on in the Imam Sahib district of the Kunduz province after Friday prayers, killing 33 people and injuring dozens, regional police spokesperson Obaidullah Abedi confirmed to EFE.

Although Obedi clarified that the victims, who were carrying out other religious activities after weekly prayers, were not Shia, a minority which has been targeted in multiple attacks over the past week, including a mosque bombing on Thursday.

In Thursday’s bombing, a Shia mosque full of praying people was targeted in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, killing at least 12 people while around 35 were injured.

The attack was claimed by the Islamic State terror group, which treats Shias as apostates.

Earlier in the week, a series of bombings on Tuesday struck two schools in the Dashte Barchi neighborhood of western Kabul – dominated by the mostly Shia Hazara community – in which at least 6 people were killed and 25 injured.

Many other lower-intensity bombings have rocked different parts of Afghanistan in recent days, such as another explosion on Thursday in a Kabul district, with no casualties reported so far.

Shias have been targeted specifically in several terror incidents over the past year.

In October, bombings against Shia mosques in Kunduz (north) and Kandahar (south) provinces on successive Fridays killed 80 and 60 people respectively.

Earlier, a bomb attack near a secondary school for girls, also situated in a Shia-Hazara area in Kabul, had killed more than 100 in May 2021. EFE

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