Bomb Explodes During Friday Prayers In Afghanistan, 12 People Killed Including Mosque Imam

Illustration of a bomb blast in Afghanistan. (Wikimedia Commons/Jim Gordon)

JAKARTA - An explosion occurred at a mosque during Friday Prayers on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. 12 people were pronounced dead, including the mosque imam who led Friday Prayers.

It was the second explosion during the ceasefire period announced by the Taliban to take effect yesterday, where there were also blasts at a number of locations that killed scores of civilians.

The Taliban strongly condemned the explosion at the mosque during Friday Prayers. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bomb blast.

"The explosion occurred at a mosque in the capital district of Shakar Dara. The imam of the mosque was among the 12 people killed and at least 15 injured in the blast," Kabul Police spokesman Ferdous Faramarz told Reuters on Friday.

The blast came less than a week after a car bomb blast at a school killed 80 people, most of them schoolgirls from the Shiite Hazara Muslim minority. The Taliban also denounced the attack and no one claimed responsibility.

United States officials believe the attack on the school may have been the work of rival militant groups such as ISIS. Such groups have not signed a holiday truce.

Violence, including attacks on civilians, escalated in Afghanistan as the withdrawal of all remaining United States troops in the country continued for the next four months.

So far there have been no significant reports of direct fighting between Government Afghanistad and Taliban forces during the three-day ceasefire starting yesterday, marking the celebration of Eid al-Fitr.

However, the blast shook the first day of the ceasefire yesterday in four different locations, killing 11 civilians and wounding 13 others.

"Today's attack on a mosque in Kabul's Shakar Dara District during Friday prayers completely defies the idea of Eid al-Fitr as a peacefully celebrated family holiday," the EU Mission in Afghanistan posted on Twitter.