Kabul mosque attack death toll climbs to 21

Kabul, Aug 18 (EFE).- At least 21 people were killed and another 33 injured in a recent suicide attack on a mosque in the Afghan capital, the police said Thursday.

Kabul police spokesperson Khalid Zadran said that according to the latest data available, at least 21 people died and another 33 were injured in the attack in the north of the capital on late Wednesday evening, local channels Tolo and Ariana News reported.

The police officer in the area of ​​the attack, Mohammad Yasee, had confirmed to EFE that 10 people had been killed and eight wounded “by the explosion caused by a suicide bomber who blew himself up inside the mosque during evening prayers.”

Emergency, an Italian NGO that operates in Kabul, said that it had received 27 people at its hospital after the explosion.

“Among the 27 victims received so far, there are 3 fatalities,” it tweeted.

“Two patients arrived dead, one died in the ER,” Emergency Country Director Stefano said.

A Taliban official, who requested anonymity, told EFE that the casualties included “popular religious scholar Maulvi Amir Mohammad Kabuli as well.”

In a statement, the spokesperson for the Taliban government, Zabihullah Mujahid, expressed his administration’s condemnation of the attack and said that perpetrators would soon be caught and punished.

No armed group has claimed responsibility for the explosion although the Islamic State (IS) terror group, which is the biggest threat to the Taliban regime, usually claims responsibility for such attacks.

The IS claimed responsibility for an attack against a madrassa or Islamic school in Kabul last week.

Well-known Taliban cleric Rahimullah Haqqani, who had publicly defended women’s right to education and work, was killed in that attack.

According to information shared by some of his students and Taliban officials, Haqqani hailed from the eastern Nangarhar province, bordering Pakistan, and had settled in the Pakistani city of Peshawar during the United States’ occupation of Afghanistan.

The religious leader was known for his strong opposition to the Islamic State, and the terror group had allegedly made several attempts against his life in Pakistan.

lk-mt/pd/ssk