At Least 100 People Killed in Bomb Attack at Mosque in Northern Afghanistan

Taliban officials say a suicide bomb killed at least 100 worshipers and injured 150 more at a mosque in the northern province of Kunduz on Friday. The attack was on Shiite Muslim worshippers often considered infidels by both the Taliban and IS-KP, an affiliate of ISIS in the region.

The official, Dost Mohammad Obaida, the deputy police chief for Kunduz province, told the Associated Press that the “majority of [worshipers] have been killed.” 

Witnesses told local media that the bomber targeted Shiite worshippers during Friday prayer at Kunduz’s Gozar-e-Sayed Abad Mosque. Shiite Muslims in Afghanistan are predominately from Afghanistan’s often targeted Hazara minority.

The attack is the first attack on civilians in the North since the Taliban returned to power in August but there have been small scale attacks - believed to be conducted by IS-KP - on Taliban forces in the mountainous province of Kunar in the southeast.

But Friday’s attack is set to be the deadliest since the departure of US and NATO forces from Kabul at the end of August. 

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said from Kabul the Shiite mosque had been targeted and that a “large number” of worshippers were killed and wounded. And that Taliban special forces had been deployed to investigate the incident and secure the area. 

Social media was awash with bloody footage of the attack’s aftermath and many dead and wounded could be seen being loaded by emergency workers into cars and ambulances at the scene.

This is an ongoing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.