10 Die in attack on mosque in Afghan capital
Kabul, Aug 17 (EFE).- Ten people were killed and eight others wounded Wednesday in a suicide bombing at a mosque in this capital, an Afghan official told Efe.
The blast occurred around 7:00 pm at a mosque in Sar-e-Kotel, a neighborhood on the north side of Kabul, the Taliban’s Malavi Mohammad Yasee said.
“According to our information as of now, the explosion was caused by a suicide terrorist who detonated inside the mosque during the afternoon prayer,” he said.
Another Taliban official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Efe that the fatalities included “well-known religious scholar Malavi Amir Mohammad.”
Emergency, an Italian NGO that operates one of Kabul’s largest hospitals, offered a higher casualty figure.
“Following today’s explosion, we admitted 27 patients to our Surgical Center for War Victims in Kabul, including five minors, one of them a 7-year-old boy,” Stefano Sozza, Emergency’s country director in Afghanistan, said. “Two patients arrived dead, one died in the Emergency Room.”
The chief spokesman for the Taliban government, Zabihullah Mujahid, issued a statement condemning the attack and vowing that “the murderers and perpetrators of such crimes will soon be captured and punished for their atrocious acts.”
While no group claimed responsibility for the bombing, Islamic State (ISIS) has boasted of being behind most of the attacks that have plagued Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power a year ago as the United States ended its nearly-two-decade-long military presence in the country.
“In the month of August alone, we managed six mass casualties in our hospital, with a total of almost 80 patients,” Emergency said Wednesday.
“Throughout the year, we have continued to receive gunshot injuries, shrapnel injuries, stabbing injuries, and victims of mine and IED (improvised explosive device) explosions on a daily basis. The country is suffering the consequences of a very long conflict that has undermined its future,” the NGO said. EFE lk-igr/dr
