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Afghanistan: At least three killed in mosque blast in Nangarhar province

A bomb blast near a mosque in eastern Afghanistan’s central Nangarhar province has killed at least three people and injured 15 others.

The blast occurred around 13:00 (11:30 Greek time) during Friday prayers. So far no organization has claimed responsibility.

“So far there are three dead and 15 injured,” a doctor at the local hospital told AFP. The imam of the mosque is among the wounded, according to the same source.

“I can confirm an explosion during Friday prayers inside a mosque in the Spin Gar area. There are wounded and dead,” a Taliban official told AFP.

The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a crowd of 5,000, police said.

The explosive device was detonated when the loudspeaker was turned on to start the prayer, he added.

The bomber struck near Jalalabad, a town in eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan that has become a stronghold of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.

In the province, a series of killings attributed to clashes between the Taliban and Islamic State jihadists have been reported in recent weeks by the local press.

Since seizing power on August 15, the Taliban, who have made restoring security in the country a priority after 20 years of war, have faced a wave of bloody attacks by Islamic State.

Its local branch, the Islamic State of Khorasan (IS-K), a rival and main adversary of the ruling Islamist movement, has targeted both the Taliban and the Afghan Shiite minority in recent weeks.

Founded in 2014 and headquartered in eastern Afghanistan, the IK-X is a Sunni organization, like the Taliban, but is even stricter and advocates for “global jihad”.

One of the latest IK-X attacks in early November on Kabul National Military Hospital killed at least 19 people, including a senior Taliban, and wounded 50 others.

More than 120 people have also been killed in IS attacks in recent weeks on two mosques frequented by members of the Khazar community, a Shiite minority, in Kandahar (south) and Kunduz (north).

The Taliban government, however, tends to publicly downplay the threat.

The Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan “is more or less under our control” and “does not pose a major threat,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters on Wednesday, announcing 600 arrests linked to the insurgency. months.

Source: AMPE

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Source From: Capital

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