At least 13 killed in Afghanistan mosque explosion

A suicide bomber targeted a memorial service in Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakhshan province on June 8, killing at least 13 people, officials said.

A former Taliban police official was among those killed and at least 30 people were wounded in the explosion near Nabawi Mosque, AP News reports citing Abdul Nafi Takor, the Taliban-appointed spokesman for the interior ministry.

He added that the casualty numbers could rise further as more information becomes available.

The Badakhshan provincial governor’s office later said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber and that “several of the seriously wounded were transferred by military helicopters to Kabul for further treatment.”

The memorial service was held for Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, the deputy governor of Badakhshan who was killed in a car bombing on June 6 in Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan. That attack also killed the deputy governor’s driver and wounded 10 other people.

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack, saying in a tweet that the bombing of mosques is an act of “terrorism” and goes “against human and Islamic standards”.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The ISIL (ISIS) armed group claimed responsibility for the car bombing on Tuesday.

The Taliban administration has been carrying out raids against members of ISIL, which has claimed several major attacks in urban centres.

The group has targeted Taliban administration officials and claimed the killing of the governor of northern Balkh province in an attack in March.