Mosque explosion kills 15 worshippers in Afghanistan

A huge explosion tore through a Shi’ite mosque during prayers killing at least 15 people in Afghanistan, Taliban officials said.

At least 31 people were wounded in the blast with horrific images on social media showing many dead or seriously wounded laying on the floor of the Imam Bargah mosque in the southern city of Kandahar.

Taliban interior ministry spokesman Qari Saeed Khosti said authorities were collecting details of the explosion, which took place days after a suicide bomb attack claimed by Islamic State (IS) on a Shi’ite mosque in the northern city of Kunduz that killed scores of people.

A health official said 15 dead and 31 wounded had been brought to the city’s Mirwais hospital but the total was expected to rise, with ambulances still bringing victims in.

Taliban special forces arrived to secure the site and sent an appeal to residents to donate blood for the wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but IS has been behind a rise in attacks, including against the Taliban, since the departure of US and Nato forces from Afghanistan at the end of August.

The blast, coming so soon after the Kunduz attack underlined the increasingly uncertain security in Afghanistan as the Taliban grapple with an escalating economic and humanitarian crisis that threatens millions with hunger.

Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a mosque in northern Afghanistan that killed at least 46 people and wounded dozens.

The claim, reported by the IS-linked Aamaq news agency, came just hours after the blast tore through the packed mosque during Friday prayers in the city of Kunduz.

The local affiliate of ISIS, known as Islamic State Khorasan, after an ancient name for the region covering Afghanistan, has stepped up attacks following the Taliban victory over the Western-backed government in Kabul in August.

Taliban officials have played down the threat from Islamic State but the repeated attacks have tarnished its claim to have brought peace to Afghanistan after four decades of war.

The fact that the Shi’ite minority has again been targeted may also inflame tensions among different ethnic and sectarian groups in the largely Sunni country.