Kabul, Oct 19 (UNI) At least 62 people were killed and nearly 60 others were injured in two blasts inside a mosque in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan during prayers, the provincial government said. The spokesman for the Nangarhar governor, Attaullah Khogyani said that the incident took place at approximately 1330 hrs on Friday at a mosque in the Jaw Dara area of the Haska Meyna district of Nangarhar.
According to officials, the explosives were placed inside the mosque and detonated when the worshipers were busy in prayer, Tolo News reported. Sediq Sediqqi, President Ghani’s spokesman, in a tweet strongly condemned the blasts and called out the Taliban for continuing to target civilians.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack so far, but both the Taliban and Islamic State are active in eastern Afghanistan, especially Nangarhar province. However, the Taliban’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the attack in a statement and called it a serious crime.
Zahir Adil, spokesman for the public health department in Nangarhar province, said 23 of the wounded were transferred to Jalalabad, the provincial capital, and the rest were being treated in the Haskamena district clinic. The violence comes a day after a UN report said Afghan civilians were dying in record numbers in the country’s increasingly brutal war, noting that more civilians died in July than in any previous month since the UN began keeping statistics.
