At least 1 dead, 7 wounded in mosque bombing in northern Afghanistan
Kabul, Jun 17 (EFE).- At least one person died and seven others were wounded in a bomb attack on a mosque in the northern Afghan province of Kunduz on Friday, officials said.
The explosion occurred at around 1.30pm local time in Imam Sahib district, when an “an explosive device placed inside the mosque detonated, leaving one dead and seven wounded,” Kunduz Police spokesperson Obaidullah Abedi told EFE.
The wounded were taken to a hospital for treatment, he added.
However, eyewitnesses claimed that the death toll provided by the authorities was incorrect, and that the actual number of deaths exceeded 20.
No armed group has claimed responsibility for the attack, although the extremist group Islamic State (IS) is usually behind such incidents, and has become the main threat to the country’s stability following the return of the Taliban to power in August last year.
This is the second explosion at a mosque in Imam Sahib district in two months.
On Apr.22, at least 33 people died and dozens were injured in an explosion at another place of worship in the middle of Ramadan.
The holy Islamic month of Ramadan witnessed an uptick in attacks on mosques in Afghanistan, especially those frequented by the Hazara Shia minority.
Extremist attacks have increased in the country since the Islamists came to power last year, the biggest of them was the attack on Kabul airport on Aug.26 that left some 170 dead.
lk-hbc/sc
