According to comprehensive media reports, a Sunni mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, was bombed on Friday (April 29). At least 10 people were killed and 30 injured in the explosion, the Taliban’s interior ministry said on the same day.
Mosque leaders said they believed suicide bombers had joined the ceremony and detonated the bombs.
Multiple witnesses told media reporters that the explosion was so powerful that it was “deafening” and could be heard in the surrounding blocks, and part of the roof of the mosque collapsed.
Footage uploaded to social media showed bloodstains on the ground of the mosque. Survivors ran from the mosque, some carrying children. The blood-covered victims were taken by ambulance to a hospital in central Kabul for treatment.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack. “The Secretary-General strongly condemns Friday’s deadly attack at the Khalifa Sahib Mosque in western Kabul during prayers,” Guterres’ spokesman said in a statement. “His deepest condolences to the families of the victims and We wish a speedy recovery to the injured. International humanitarian law strictly prohibits attacks on civilians and civilian targets, including mosques.”
The next day (30th), a van in Kabul exploded on April 30th. Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran told Reuters that the April 30 explosion left “one woman dead and three others injured”.
The militant group The Islamic State (IS) claimed to have carried out the attack on Saturday (30th).
ISIS posted on social media Telegram that they detonated an explosive device placed near a bus in Kabul’s 6th police district.
“No words are enough to condemn this despicable act,” said Jan Knutsson, the UN secretary general’s deputy special representative for Afghanistan.
The Taliban say it has secured the country since taking power in August and has largely wiped out IS’ local affiliates. But the risk of a resurgence of activism remains, international officials and analysts say. Many of these attacks have targeted the Shia minority, but Sunnis have also been attacked.
On April 22, an explosion attacked a Sunni mosque in the northern province of Kunduz, killing 12 and injuring 58; on the 28th, Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of the northern province of Balkh (Mazar-i-Sharif) At least nine people were killed and 13 injured in two bombings that were planted on a minibus carrying Shiite Muslims. The Islamic State group claimed they were responsible for the bombings.