By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
April 21, 2022
A series of explosions killed at least 15 people and wounded dozens more in Afghanistan on April 21.
An explosion at a Shi’ite mosque in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif killed at least 11 people, said Zia Zendani, spokesman for the provincial health authority in the city, adding that 32 more people were wounded in the blast.
Zabihullah Nourani, the Taliban’s director of intelligence and culture in Balkh, put the death toll at 25.
The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack.
“The soldiers of the caliphate managed to get a booby-trapped bag” inside the mosque, detonating it from afar after it was packed with worshippers, the group said in a statement on its Telegram channel.
Separately, at least four people were killed and 18 wounded in a blast in the northern city of Kunduz, according to a police official.
Provincial police spokesman Obaidullah Abedi said the blast was caused by a bicycle bomb targeting a vehicle carrying mechanics working for a Taliban military unit.
Earlier on April 21, a roadside blast in Kabul injured at least two children, the fifth explosion this week in the Afghan capital.
No group claimed responsibility for the Kunduz and Kabul attacks, which came during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and two days after explosions tore through a high school in a predominantly Shi’ite Hazara area in western Kabul, killing at least six.
The Shi’ite religious minority is frequently targeted by Sunni militant groups, including IS.
Richard Bennett, the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan on human rights, condemned the blasts.
“Today more explosions rocked Afghanistan…systematic targeted attacks on crowded schools and mosques calls for immediate investigation, accountability and end to human rights violations,” he said in a tweet.
With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa, and Tolo News
Copyright (c) 2022. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
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