A blast has torn through a mosque in Afghanistan’s northeastern city of Kunduz during Friday prayers, causing multiple deaths, according to the Taliban.
“This afternoon, an explosion took place in a mosque of our Shia compatriots … as a result of which a number of our compatriots were martyred and wounded,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter, adding that a special unit was arriving at the scene to investigate.
The blast occurred during the weekly Friday prayer service at the Gozar-e-Sayed Abad Mosque when members of the Shiite religious minority typically come in large numbers for worship. Witness Ali Reza said he was praying at the time of the explosion and reported seeing many casualties.
At least 50 people died in the blast according to hospital sources. A doctor at Kunduz Central Hospital, who did not want to be named, said: “So far we have received 35 dead bodies and over 50 wounded people in our hospital.” Another hospital run by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) received the bodies of at least 15 people, a source said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State group, bitter rivals of the Taliban, has claimed similar recent atrocities.
Residents of Kunduz, the capital of a province of the same name, told AFP the blast hit a Shiite mosque during Friday prayers, the most important of the week for Muslims. Zalmai Alokzai, a local businessman who rushed to Kunduz Provincial Hospital to check whether doctors needed blood donations, described horrific scenes.
“I saw more than 40 dead bodies,” he told AFP. “Ambulances were going back to the incident scene to carry the dead.”
An international aid worker at the MSF hospital in the city told AFP there were fears the death toll could rise. “Hundreds of people are gathered at the main gate of the hospital and crying for their relatives but armed Taliban guys are trying to prevent gatherings in case another explosion is planned,” he said.
