At least 30 people were killed after a blast ripped through a mosque in Kabul on Friday, amid a string of similar attacks that have occurred throughout Ramadan.
The blast hit the Khalifa Sahib Mosque in the west of the capital in the early afternoon, said Besmullah Habib, deputy spokesman for the interior ministry.
He said the official confirmed death toll was 10, but a health source said hospitals had so far received at least 30 bodies.
Emergency Hospital in central Kabul said it was treating 21 patients wounded in the blast and two patients were dead on arrival. A nurse at another hospital, who declined to be identified, said it had received several wounded in critical condition.
The attack came as worshippers at the Sunni mosque gathered after Friday prayers for a congregation known as zikr — an act of religious remembrance practised by some Muslims but seen as heretical by some hardline Sunni groups.
Sayed Fazil Agha, the head of the mosque, said someone they believed was a suicide bomber joined them in the ceremony and detonated explosives.
“Black smoke rose and spread everywhere, dead bodies were everywhere,” he told Reuters and added that his nephews were among the dead.
“I myself survived, but lost my beloved ones,” he said.
“The blast was very loud, I thought my eardrums were cracked.”
Several recent bombings have hit the minority Shiite community, but Friday's blast was different as it occurred at a Sunni mosque.
It comes a day after two bombs on separate minibuses killed at least nine people in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, many of them Shiite passengers heading home to break their fast.
A bomb at a Shiite mosque in the city a week earlier killed at least 12 worshippers and wounded scores more.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for several of the recent attacks.
The regional branch of ISIS in Sunni-majority Afghanistan has repeatedly made Shiites and minorities such as Sufis, who follow a mystical branch of Islam, targets.
ISIS is a Sunni Islamist group, like the Taliban, but the two are bitter rivals.
The biggest ideological difference is that the Taliban's main focus has been an Afghanistan free of foreign forces, whereas ISIS is looking to establish an Islamic caliphate stretching from Turkey to Pakistan and beyond.
Taliban officials insist their forces have defeated ISIS, but analysts say the group remains a major security challenge.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
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Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
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Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
RESULTS - ELITE MEN
1. Henri Schoeman (RSA) 57:03
2. Mario Mola (ESP) 57:09
3. Vincent Luis (FRA) 57:25
4. Leo Bergere (FRA)57:34
5. Jacob Birtwhistle (AUS) 57:40
6. Joao Silva (POR) 57:45
7. Jonathan Brownlee (GBR) 57:56
8. Adrien Briffod (SUI) 57:57
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10. Richard Murray (RSA) 57:59
Uefa Nations League
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UAE v Zimbabwe A
Results
Match 1 – UAE won by 4 wickets
Match 2 – UAE won by 5 wickets
Match 3 – UAE won by 25 runs
Match 4 – UAE won by 77 runs
Fixture
Match 5, Saturday, 9.30am start, ICC Academy, Dubai
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged and supercharged in-line four-cylinder
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Fuel economy, combined: 9.7L / 100km