By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
November 12, 2021

At least two people have been killed and more than a dozen wounded in a blast inside a mosque in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar, officials say.

The explosion occurred during Friday Prayers in the village of Tarela in Nangarhar’s Spin Ghar district on November 12.

Local officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said at least two people were killed in the blast caused by a bomb planted inside the mosque.

A provincial tribal elder said the Taliban’s district governor, who was among the wounded, was the main target.

Some reports put the number of injured at at least 15 people.

No one initially claimed responsibility for the attack, but Islamic State (IS) militants have been waging an intense campaign of violence in the area.

The Taliban, which controls nearly all of Afghanistan since sweeping across the country in military offensives as U.S.-led international troops withdrew at the end of August, has been waging a counterinsurgency campaign, vowing to put down the threat from IS.

A spokesman for the Taliban regime’s intelligence service, Khalil Hamraz, told journalists in the Afghan capital on November 10 that nearly 600 IS fighters had been arrested, including major figures and financial backers.

The United Nations and many foreign governments who have resisted recognizing the hard-line Taliban leadership in Kabul’s legitimacy have criticized a wide range of infringements on Afghans’ rights since the militant swept to power in August and warned of a humanitarian disaster in the war-torn country.

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