Afghanistan: At least 15 people injured in explosion in mosque in Nangarhar

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Friday prayers in a mosque in Kandahar

Photo: Sidiqullah Khan / AP

According to official information, at least 15 people were injured in an explosion in a mosque in eastern Afghanistan on Friday.

A spokesman for the ruling Taliban said the explosion occurred during Friday prayers in the Spin Ghar mosque in Nangarhar province.

Reports of deaths spread in the short message service Twitter were initially not confirmed.

One of the tribal elders reported that the bomb was hidden in the prayer niche (mihrab) of the mosque.

Accordingly, the bomb is said to have been in a loudspeaker in the mosque.

When the loudspeaker was turned on for the prayer, the explosive device exploded, he told the AFP news agency.

The militant Islamist Taliban had taken power in Afghanistan at breathtaking speed in August before the planned withdrawal of western troops.

Since then, the terrorist militia "Islamic State" (IS) has intensified its activities, especially in the capital Kabul and the troubled eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar.

IS first appeared in Afghanistan in early 2015.

The militia is hostile to the Taliban, even if both are ideologically close as radical Sunni groups.

IS carried out several attacks

Most recently, the IS claimed, among other things, a devastating attack at the end of August at Kabul airport while the international military evacuation mission was still ongoing, with almost 200 dead, according to media reports.

In October, the Islamists carried out an attack in a Shiite mosque in Kunduz.

A few weeks later dozens of people died in an attack on a mosque in Kandahar.

Experts see the increasing number of IS attacks as a sign that the Taliban are unable to completely stop the terrorism practiced by their rivals.

Similar to the previous government.

mfh / AFP / dpa