Desk Report
Published: 15 Oct 2021, 06:42 pm
32 Killed as Blasts Hit Shia Mosque in Afghanistan || Photo: Collected
At least 32 people have been
killed and 45 others wounded after an explosion went off inside a Shia mosque
in Afghanistan’s southern city of Kandahar, according to public health
officials in the province.
The explosion on Friday
afternoon took place in the Bibi Fatima mosque, the largest mosque for Shia
worshippers in the city, reports Al Jazeera.
Interior ministry spokesman
Qari Sayed Khosti said on Twitter: “We are saddened to learn that an explosion
took place in a mosque of the Shia brotherhood in the first district of Kandahar
city in which a number of our compatriots were martyred and wounded.”
Taliban special forces
arrived in the area “to determine the nature of the incident and bring the perpetrators
to justice”, he added.
An eyewitness told the AFP
news agency he heard three blasts, one at the main door of the mosque, another
at a southern area, and a third where worshippers wash.
Murtaza, another eyewitness
who like many Afghans goes by one name, told The Associated Press news agency
that four suicide bombers attacked the mosque.
Two detonated their payloads
at a security gate, allowing the other two to run inside and strike the
congregation of worshippers.
Speaking to The Associated
Press by phone, he said Friday prayers were typically attended by about 500
people.