at least 10 people have lost their lives as a result of an explosion registered this Wednesday in a mosque in Kabul, according to a provisional balance of victims released by Efe. The attack took place in the area of Sar-e-Kotel of police district 17, in the north of Kabul, during afternoon prayers, around 7:00 p.m. (2:30 p.m. GMT), the official told Efe Malavi Mohammad Yasee.
According to our information so far, the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber who blew himself up inside the mosque during afternoon prayers, killing 10 people and injuring 8 more people. sources.
Another Taliban official who declined to be named told the same news agency that “the well-known religious scholar Malavi Amir Mohammad was also among the dead.” The Italian NGO Emergencywhich has one of the main hospitals in Kabul, has counted even more victims of the explosion.
The main spokesman for the Taliban government, Zabihullah Mujahid, has expressed in a statement the condemnation of his administration “to the explosion in a mosque”. “Jannah al-Firdus to the dead, the recovery of the wounded and strength to the families”, the spokesman wished, who assured that “the murderers and perpetrators of such crimes will soon be caught and punished for their heinous acts”.
evening prayer
A Kabul Police spokesman, Khalid Zadranexplained to the DPA agency that the incident, which occurred in the Kotal-e-Khairkhana area, has coincided with the evening prayerso the local media anticipate that there may be a large number of victims.
The NGO Emergency has reported on Twitter that 27 people have been transferred to its hospital, five of them children, while the Taliban have not spoken to offer an official balance. As reported by a source to the Al Jazeera chain, a total of 20 people have lost their lives due to the explosion.
Afghanistan continues to suffer attacks on a regular basis. Last week, a prominent Taliban-affiliated cleric was killed in a suicide attack. No armed group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far. Despite the end of the war after the withdrawal of international troops and the victory of the Taliban, Afghanistan has suffered several of its bloodiest attacks since the Islamists rose to power a year ago.
Most of these attacks have been carried out by the jihadist group Islamic Statewhich has become the main security threat in Afghanistan and maintains a intense rivalry with the Taliban. Precisely this Monday, August 15, the First anniversary since the Taliban seized power again, two decades after the overthrow of their first regime.
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The anniversary has raised a wave of convictions against the Taliban regime in the world’s media, which have accused its leaders of pursuing the same policies that sparked the rejection of the international community during the 1990s when they first came to power, in particular the treatment meted out to women.
Just over two weeks ago, the main leader of Al Qaeda, the Egyptian Ayman Al-Zawahiriwas gunned down in his home in Kabul during a CIA-led operation and materialized through drones. The incident reopened the debate on the possibility of the Central Asian country once again becoming a sanctuary of international terrorism, despite the Taliban’s commitment not to stumble over the same stone again.