By Charlotte Greenfield and Mohammad Yunus Yawar
KABUL, Sep 23 (Reuters) – At least four people were killed and 10 injured in an explosion near a mosque in the Afghan capital as worshipers were leaving afternoon prayers on Friday, a nearby hospital said.
The blast was the latest in a series of deadly attacks on Friday prayers in mosques in recent months, some of which have been claimed by the militant group of the Islamic State.
“After the prayers, when people wanted to leave the mosque, there was an explosion,” said Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran. “All the victims are civilians, the exact number is not yet clear”.
The emergency hospital, run by an Italian NGO, said it had taken in 14 people injured in the blast, four of whom arrived dead.
The explosion occurred in Wazir Akbar Khan, an area that was once the “green zone” of the city, home to many foreign and NATO embassies, but is now controlled by the Taliban.
The mosque has been the subject of attacks in the past, including an explosion in June 2020, before the Taliban returned to power. That attack killed the mosque’s imam and injured several people.
(Reported by Charlotte Greenfield and Mohammad Yunus Yawar; Spanish editing by Ricardo Figueroa)
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