ACCEPTANCE – A bomb hit a mosque in northern Kabul during Friday prayers, killing 12 faithful. The imam of the mosque, Mofti Naiman, is among the dead. Another 15 people were injured. The bomb exploded as the prayers began. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but initial police investigations suggest the Imam may have been the target, a spokesperson for the agency said. A.P.
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The blast comes on the second day of a three-day ceasefire announced by the Taliban and the Afghan government. A break for the Islamic festival Eid-al-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
So far, many of the attacks in the capital have been claimed by the Afghan branch of the Islamic State. The latest, last week, killed over 90 people, many of them leaving a girls’ school. The Taliban denied involvement and condemned the attack.
The violence comes as US and NATO allied forces continue their withdrawal from Afghanistan after nearly 20 years of war. Just this week the last US troops left southern Kandahar airbase, while some NATO troops remained. At the height of the war, more than 30,000 US troops were stationed in Kandahar, the heart of the area controlled by the Taliban.
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