The blast killed 33 civilians, police mentioned. (Representational)

Kabul:

A blast ripped by means of a mosque throughout Friday prayers in northern Afghanistan killing 33 folks and wounding 43 extra, a Taliban spokesman mentioned, only a day after the Islamic State group claimed two separate lethal assaults.

Since Taliban fighters seized management of Afghanistan final yr after ousting the US-backed authorities, the variety of bombings has fallen however the jihadist and Sunni IS has continued with assaults in opposition to targets they see as heretical.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted that kids had been among the many 33 useless within the blast at a mosque within the northern province of Kunduz.

“We condemn this crime… and express our deepest sympathies to the bereaved,” he mentioned.

Images posted to social media which couldn’t be instantly verified confirmed holes blown by means of the partitions of the Mawlavi Sikandar mosque, standard with Sufis, north of Kunduz metropolis.

Jihadist teams reminiscent of IS bear a deep hatred for Sufis who they view as heretics and accuse them of polytheism — the best sin in Islam — for in search of the intercession of useless saints.

“The sight at the mosque was horrifying. All those who were worshipping inside the mosque were either injured or killed,” mentioned Mohammad Esah, who owns a store close to the mosque.

A nurse at a close-by district hospital informed AFP over the cellphone that between 30 to 40 casualties had been admitted from the blast.

Multiple bomb blasts

It comes a day after the Islamic State group claimed a bomb assault at a Shiite mosque within the northern metropolis of Mazar-i-Sharif that killed at the very least 12 worshippers and left 58 folks injured.

They additionally claimed a separate assault in Kunduz metropolis on Thursday, which killed 4 folks and wounded 18.

No group has but to say twin blasts on a boys’ faculty in a Shiite neighbourhood of Kabul on Tuesday, which killed six and wounded greater than 25.

Shiite Afghans, who’re largely from the Hazara neighborhood that makes up between 10 and 20 p.c of Afghanistan’s inhabitants of 38 million, have lengthy been the goal of the IS, who take into account them heretics.

Earlier on Friday the Taliban authorities mentioned they’d arrested the IS “mastermind” of Thursday’s bombing on the mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif.

Taliban officers insist their forces have defeated IS, however analysts say the jihadist group is a key safety problem.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)