AMN / WEB DESK
At least 50 worshippers were killed after a powerful explosion took place after Friday prayers at a Kabul mosque, according media reports quoting local leaders.
The blast hit the Khalifa Sahib Mosque in the west of the capital, said Besmullah Habib, deputy spokesman for the interior ministry, who said the official confirmed death toll was 10.
The attack came as worshippers at the mosque gathered after Friday prayers for a congregation known as Zikr.
Sayed Fazil Agha, the head of the mosque, said someone they believed was a suicide bomber joined them in the ceremony and detonated explosives.
“Black smoke rose and spread everywhere, dead bodies were everywhere,” he told Reuters, adding that his nephews were among the dead.
“I myself survived, but lost my beloved ones,” he said.
Emergency Hospital in downtown Kabul said it was treating 21 patients wounded in the blast and two patients were dead on arrival. A nurse at another hospital, who declined to be identified, said it had received several wounded in critical condition. A health source said hospitals had so far received at least 30 bodies in total.
Scores of Afghan civilians have been killed in recent weeks in blasts, some of which have been claimed by Deash. The latest attack came on the last Friday in the month of Ramadan in which most Muslims fast, and before the religious holiday of Eid next week.