Blast at Kabul mosque kills 21 people after huge bomb rips through mosque

A huge explosion at a crowded mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul has killed 21 people, , including a prominent cleric, and wounded at least 33 others.

The Taliban-appointed Kabul police said the explosion tore through a mosque in northwestern Kabul during evening prayers on Wednesday.

The Associated Press quoted a survivor as saying: “It was evening prayer time, and I was attending the prayer with others when the explosion happened. It was a very powerful explosion inside the mosque.”

It is not clear who was behind the attack, but a spokesperson for the police has told an international broadcast media that Afghan security forces are trying to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack on Wednesday, the latest to strike Afghanistan in the year since the Taliban seized power.

Several children were reported to be among the wounded, amid fears that the casualty numbers could rise further.

The Islamic State group’s local affiliate has stepped up attacks targeting the Taliban and civilians since the former insurgents’ takeover last August as US and Nato troops were in the final stages of their withdrawal from the country.

Last week, IS claimed responsibility for killing a prominent Taliban cleric at his religious centre in Kabul.

According to a witness, a resident of the city’s Khair Khana neighbourhood where the Siddiquiya Mosque was targeted, the explosion on Wednesday was carried out by a suicide bomber.

The slain cleric was Mullah Amir Mohammad Kabuli, the witness said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media.

It has been one year since the Taliban recaptured power in Afghanistan. The security situation in the country remains volatile due to a series of terrorist bomb attacks carried out by Islamic State militants.