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A powerful explosion occurred on Friday near the Shiite mosque Bibi-Fatima in the city of Kandahar, the administrative center of the province of the same name in Afghanistan.
A suicide bomber carried out a suicide bombing on the territory of the largest Shiite religious site in the province called Imam Bargah. At the moment of the explosion, many believers gathered there for Friday prayers. The terrorist attack killed 33 people. At least 74 people were injured, informs NDTV citing a doctor at the central city hospital.
Two eyewitnesses told AFP that they heard three explosions. One of them thundered at the main entrance to the mosque, the other – where the believers perform ablution before prayer, and the third – in the southern part of the city.
Local resident Ahmadullah added that immediately after the prayer, shooting began, and then two or three explosions thundered.
A witness named Murtaza claims that four suicide bombers were involved in the attack on the mosque. Two detonated their bombs at the security checkpoint, while two other terrorists ran into the mosque and attacked the parishioners. According to Murtaza, usually about 500 people are present at Friday prayers in the mosque. informs Al Jazeera.
The information about the explosion at the mosque was confirmed by the Taliban terrorist movement that seized power in the country. “We learned with regret about the explosion in the mosque of the Shiite brothers in the First district of Kandahar city, as a result of which several of our compatriots were killed and injured. Special Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the name of the state used by the Taliban) have arrived in the area to determine the nature of the incident and bring those responsible to justice, “Tweet was made by the Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, Qari Said Khosti. His quotes TASS.
In turn, a member of the Taliban Commission on Culture Mohammad Jalal said that the explosion was prepared and carried out by the militants of the Islamic State in Khorasan group, which is an offshoot of the Islamic State extremist organization.
October 8, a similar terrorist attack happened at a Shiite mosque in Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan. Then, as a result of the explosion, at least 150 people were killed, about 200 were injured. The Islamic State in Khorasan militants claimed responsibility for the incident.
After the terrorist attack, the Taliban government promised to stabilize the situation in the country and protect the Shiite minority from terrorist attacks. Shiites make up about 10% of the Afghan population.
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