By Rukhshana Media
37 people have been killed and 70 have been wounded after a suicide attack targeted a Shiite mosque in Kandahar city, health officials confirmed to a local journalist.
Around 1:30 in the afternoon when worshipers gathered for Friday prayers a powerful explosion took place inside a Shiite mosque in the first district of Kandahar city, in southeastern Afghanistan.
“Doctors in Kandahar provincial hospital confirmed to me that 20 of the wounded are in critical condition,” the local journalist who does not want his name to be mentioned due to security threats, told Rukhshana Media.
“When worshipers were busy praying, 3 attackers who carried explosives entered the mosque,” an eyewitness who withhold his name, fearing the Taliban retribution for speaking with media, told Rukhshana Media.
“The mosque’s guard identified and killed one of the attackers, but two of them made it inside the mosque and detonated their explosives,” the witness said.
“There were so many people inside the mosque, I think about 20 to 30 people were killed around 50 to 60 have been wounded,” he added.
No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack.
This is the second consecutive Friday, Afghanistan’s weekend, that the Shiite Mosque came under attack. Last Friday, a suicide bomber struck a Shiite mosque in Kunduz province, killing and wounding over 150 people. Daesh or the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K) took responsibility for last week’s attack.
