*KABUL – An explosion rocked a mosque on an Afghan army base during Fridayprayers, killing or wounding a number of soldiers, officials said, in thelatest violence to hit the war-torn country.*

Khost provincial governor spokesman Taliban Mangal said at least ninepeople had been killed and 22 wounded, but that could not be immediatelyverified by military officials.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast in the easternprovince, which defence ministry spokesman Ghafoor Ahmad Jawed would onlyconfirm had caused casualties.

Some of the wounded had been transported to a hospital in the provincialcapital Khost while four helicopters also had been dispatched to bringothers to Kabul, Jawed said.

It is not clear how many worshippers were inside the mosque at the time ofthe explosion or the nature of the blast. – APP/AFP