KHOST – A suicide blast struck a Shiite mosque in eastern AfghanistanFriday as it was crowded with worshippers for weekly prayers, killing atleast 20 people and wounding dozens in the latest attack on the minority.
Officials have said they fear the death toll could rise after the assault,the latest targeting civilians who have borne the brunt of the violence inAfghanistan’s long conflict.
“A suicide blast took place inside a Shiite mosque in the city of Gardez ofPaktia province,” General Raz Mohammad Mandozai, provincial police chief ofPaktia near the Pakistan border, told AFP.
“We have 20 people killed and around 50 others were wounded. All thevictims were worshippers as they were busy offering Friday prayers whenthey were killed.”
Mandozai added that at least two attackers opened fire on the crowd beforedetonating explosives, and said there may have been more than one suicideblast.
Abdullah Hasrat, the Paktia governor’s spokesman, gave a slightly higherdeath toll of 22, warning that it could rise.
The head of Gardez’s public health department Wilayat Khan Ahmadzai saidthat more than 70 people had been killed and wounded, with many rushed tothe city’s civilian hospital.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
It comes as urban areas across Afghanistan have been rocked by anincreasing number of attacks in recent months, with both Islamic State (IS)and Taliban insurgents targeting security forces and governmentinstallations.
The Taliban has not claimed a major attack in a city for weeks as it comesunder increased pressure to agree to peace talks with the Afghan government.
But IS has carried out multiple attacks in the eastern city of Jalalabadand the capital Kabul in recent months, targeting everything fromgovernment ministries to a midwife training centre.
Last month an IS suicide bomber blew himself up near Kabul internationalairport, killing 23 people including AFP driver Mohammad Akhtar.
The uptick in violence comes as US and Afghan forces intensify ground andair offensives against IS, and the Taliban step up their turf war with thegroup.
Earlier this week more than 150 IS fighters surrendered in northernAfghanistan — in a move that Afghan security forces and the Taliban hailedas the end of the extremist group in the north of the country.
Afghan civilians have taken the brunt of the gruesome war that began afterthe 2001 US-led invasion uprooted the Taliban regime.
Insurgent attacks and suicide bombs were the leading causes of civiliandeaths in the first half of 2018, a recent UN report showed.
The total number of civilians killed was 1,692, the highest number for theperiod since the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan begankeeping records in 2009.
Another 3,430 people were wounded, the report added. – APP/AFP