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Suicide bombers attack two Afghan mosques, at least 72 dead - UPDATED

Suicide bombers attack two Afghan mosques, at least 72 dead - <span style="color: red;">UPDATED

21 October 2017 00:37 (UTC +04:00)

Suicide bombers attacked two mosques in Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least 72 people including children, officials and witnesses said, APA reports quoting Anadolu Agency.

One bomber walked into a Shi‘ite Muslim mosque in the capital Kabul as people were praying on Friday night and detonated an explosive, one of the worshippers there, Mahmood Shah Husaini, said.

At least 39 people died in the blast at the Imam Zaman mosque in the city’s western Dasht-e-Barchi district, interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said.

No group claimed responsibility. But Shi‘ite Muslims have suffered a series of attacks in Afghanistan in recent months, many of them claimed by the Sunni Muslim militants of Islamic State.

Separately, a suicide bombing killed at least 33 people at a mosque in central Ghor province, a police spokesman said.

The attack appeared to target a local leader from the Jamiat political party, according to a statement from Balkh provincial governor Atta Mohammad Noor, a leading figure in Jamiat.

Again, no one immediately claimed responsibility.

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20:37

The second suicide bomber blew himself up in a Sunni mosque in the Afghan province of Ghor, APA reports quoting Anadolu Agency.

District governor Mohsen Danishyar reports that the attack has claimed lives of 30 people, however, the provincial governor confirms only 10 deaths.

It is believed that the target of the blast was a senior provincial police commander who is likely dead.

Earlier in the day the terrorist attack was carried out in the Afghan Capital, Kabul, and targeted a Shi'ite mosque. The death toll stands at 32 with 41 injured.