Afghanistan: 10 Dead, Over 50 Injured As Massive Blast Hits Mosque In Mazar-e-Sharif, ISIS Claims Responsibility

The explosion took place two days after suicide bombings took place outside a secondary school in Dasht-e-Barchi - a Hazara Shia neighbourhood in Kabul.

Bomb attacks in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. (File Photo/ Getty)

Kabul: At least 14 people were killed in the bomb blasts that took place Afghanistan cities on Thursday, including 10 at a mosque in northern Afghanistan city of Mazar-e-Sharif on Thursday afternoon, news agency AFP reported quoting a Talibani commander as saying. The report also stated that ISIS has claimed responsibility of the deadly mosque bombing.

A health authority of the province said that over 50 were injured in the explosions. While speaking to the news agency resident of Mazar-e-Sharif said she was shopping with her sister in a nearby market when she heard a large explosion and saw smoke rising from the area around the mosque.

"The glass of the shops was broken and it was very crowded and everyone started to run," the woman, who declined to be named, said.

Reacting to the incident, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "We condemn all terrorist attacks such as the one in Afghanistan. We are looking at the developments there."

It is noteworthy that the Shi'ite community that is a religious minority group in Afghanistan has often been on target of Sunni militant groups, including Islamic State.

The explosion took place two days after suicide bombings took place outside a secondary school in Dasht-e-Barchi - a Hazara Shia neighbourhood in Kabul leaving more than 30 dead and hundreds injured. The April 19 blasts took place at the time when students were coming out of their morning classes at the Abdul Rahim Shahid high school in the capital city of Afghanistan.

"Three blasts have taken place - in a high school, there are some casualties to our Shia people. The explosions occurred in the main exit of Abdul Rahim Shahid School, where crowds of students were there, one teacher told me who surprisingly escaped the attack," news agency IANS had quoted Khalid Zadran, the spokesman of Kabul police as saying.

Soon after taking over Afghanistan in August last year, Taliban rulers have claimed to have secured the country, but international community say militant groups, especially ISIS-K, have been successful in discrediting that claim. ISIS-K has claimed several attacks and bombing that have taken place in Afghanistan ever since Taliban took over the country.