Afghanistan: At least 25 people killed in explosion at a Shia mosque in Paktia province
Two suicide bombers entered the mosque wearing burqas before opening fire at worshippers and detonating their explosive vests.
At least 25 people were killed and 40 wounded when two suicide bombers attacked a Shia mosque in Gardez city in Afghanistan’s Patkia province on Friday afternoon, Tolo News reported.
The attackers entered the Sahib-ul-Zaman mosque wearing burqas. They killed the mosque’s guards before opening fire at the worshippers and detonating their explosive vests, The New York Times quoted police spokesperson Sardar Wali Tabasoom as saying.
Abdullah Asrat, spokesperson for the provincial governor, said the attackers slipped undetected through a side door, AP reported.
“A suicide blast took place inside a Shia mosque in the city of Gardez of Paktia province,” Paktia police chief Raz Mohammad Mandozai told AFP.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for this latest terror attack in Afghanistan.
On Thursday, gunmen abducted and killed three foreign nationals, including an Indian, working in Kabul. Two days before that eight people were killed in the western province of Farah when a bus was hit by a roadside bomb reportedly planted by the Taliban militant group.
#Paktia - Local officials say the attack on Sahib-ul-Zaman Mosque in Khwaja Hassan area in Gardez City was carried out by two suicide bombers. The officials said attackers had used hand grenades before blowing up their suicide vests. #Afghanistan
— TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) August 3, 2018
