A suicide bomber slaughtered more than 40 people, including five children, when he struck at a mosque in northern Afghanistan after Eidul Azha prayers on Friday, officials said.
It was the worst death toll in a single attack in Afghanistan since 80 died on December 6 last year in a suicide blast at a shrine in Kabul on Ashura. At least 50 others were wounded as the bomb — reportedly stuffed with ball-bearings — ripped through the crowd of worshippers in Maymana city in Faryab province.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but suicide bombings are a favourite weapon of Taliban trying to topple the Western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai. The attacker was wearing a police uniform when he blew himself up at the entrance to the city’s packed Eid Gah mosque, deputy provincial governor Abdul Satar Barez told AFP.
“We have 42 dead — more than 20 are security forces and the rest of them are civilians, including five or six children,” he said. “Around 51 are wounded, some 15 of them critically injured.” A member of parliament for Faryab, Naqeebullah Fayeq, who was present during the attack put the death toll at 47. Barez, like many other provincial officials, was also at the scene at the time of the bombing and described the horror of the blast in the midst of a religious celebration.
“We had just finished Eid al-Adha prayers and we were congratulating and hugging each other,” Barez said. “Suddenly a big explosion took place and the area was full of dust and smoke and body parts of police and civilians were all over the place. It was a very powerful explosion.”
Suicide bomber kills more than 40 at Afghan mosque
