(The attack came as worshippers at the Sunni mosque gatheredafter Friday prayers for a congregation known as Zikr)

Reuters

April29, 2022 8:45 PM

 Apowerful explosion killed more than 50 worshippers after Friday prayers at aKabul mosque, its leader said, amid a series of attacks on civilian targets inAfghanistan during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Theblast hit the Khalifa Sahib Mosque in the west of the capital in the earlyafternoon, said Besmullah Habib, deputy spokesman for the interior ministry,who said the official confirmed death toll was 10.

Theattack came as worshippers at the Sunni mosque gathered after Friday prayersfor a congregation known as Zikr - an act of religious remembrance practised bysome Muslims but seen as heretical by some hardline Sunni groups.

SayedFazil Agha, the head of the mosque, said someone they believed was a suicidebomber joined them in the ceremony and detonated explosives.

"Blacksmoke rose and spread everywhere, dead bodies were everywhere," he toldReuters, adding that his nephews were among the dead.

"Imyself survived, but lost my beloved ones," he said.

ResidentMohammad Sabir said he had seen people being loaded into ambulances.

"Theblast was very loud, I thought my eardrums were cracked," he said.

EmergencyHospital in downtown Kabul said it was treating 21 patients wounded in theblast and two patients were dead on arrival. A nurse at another hospital, whodeclined to be identified, said it had received several wounded in criticalcondition. A health source said hospitals had so far received at least 30bodies in total.

Scoresof Afghan civilians have been killed in recent weeks in blasts, some of whichhave been claimed by Islamic State. The latest attack came on the last Fridayin the month of Ramadan in which most Muslims fast, and before the religiousholiday of Eid next week.

TheTaliban rulers say they have secured the country since taking power in Augustand largely eliminated Islamic State's local offshoot, but internationalofficials and analysts say the risk of a resurgence in militancy remains.

Manyof the attacks have targeted the Shi'ite minority, however Sunni mosques havealso been attacked.

Bombsexploded aboard two passenger vans carrying Shi'ite Muslims in the northerncity of Mazar-e-Sharif on Thursday, killing at least nine people. Last Friday,a blast tore through a Sunni mosque during Friday prayers in the city ofKunduz, killing 33.