Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Bloody Mosque Attack Killed 14 in Kabul

Islamic State (IS) group’s affiliate in Afghanistan has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack that killed 14 people at a mosque in northern Afghanistan. The attack was the second in two days of Ashura mourning.

The blast killed at least 14 people during the Ashura commemoration in Afghanistan’s northern province of Balkh on Wednesday, a government spokesman said.

“The explosion happened at the gate of the Shiite mosque in the centre of Balkh district (in Balkh province),” according to the provincial governor’s spokesman Munir Ahmad Farhad, who added that 28 people had also been injured.

“The attack has nothing to with us, we are deeply affected by attack on civilians,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted. According to Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi, the assailant opened fire on worshippers at the shrine as they prayed. He was later shot dead.

The “Islamic State” (IS) also claimed responsibility for the twin attacks in the capital, Kabul, on Tuesday, killing up to 18 people and wounding dozens.

Gunmen entered the Karte Sakhi shrine near Kabul University late on Tuesday, firing at men, women and children as they fleed, witnesses said. The interior ministry said in statement that one of the men was wearing a suicide vest.

Another attacker entered a nearby mosque and took a number of people hostage as they were commemorating Ashura, the ministry said.