A car packed with explosives blew up outside a mosque attended by Taliban
 ...Arabic for students ...
members in the Afghan capital, killing at least seven people minutes after Friday prayers had ended, the interior ministry said.
The explosion occurred in front of Wazir Akbar Khan mosque, not far from the fortified former Green Zone that housed several embassies before the Taliban seized power in August last year.
The mosque is now often attended by senior Taliban commanders and fighters.
Interior ministry front man Abdul Nafy Takor told AFP that at least seven people had been killed and 41 others were maimed, including children.
"The explosion occurred when worshippers were heading home," Takor said, adding the explosives were placed in a car.
Unverified images posted on social media showed a mangled car engulfed in fire on a road outside the mosque.
No group has so far claimed the attack.
In 2020, a bomb destroyed the same mosque, killing its imam.
While overall violence has significantly dropped across Afghanistan since the war ended with the Taliban's return to power, there have been regular kabooms in Kabul and other cities.
Several mosques and holy mans have been targeted in these attacks, some claimed by the jihadist Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group.
Initial reports indicate the device used was a magnetic mine. The Grand Mosque in Wazir Akbar Khan, an upscale neighborhood in Kabul, has been attacked by ISIS-K several times in recent years, but no group has claimed credit for this attack yet. 
|
