At least 16 people were killed and 32 wounded when explosions hit a Shiite mosque in the Afghan city of Kandahar on Friday

A hospital spokesman told AFP. This is the second such attack on a mosque this fortnight in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan “Sixteen dead bodies and 32 wounded were taken to the Mirwais Hospital,” a spokesman for the southern city’s central hospital said.

A Taliban spokesperson said that they are trying to determine the ‘nature of explosion’.

Saeed Khosti, the spokesperson for the Taliban interior ministry, said, “A number of our compatriots



were killed and wounded” in the explosion. He added that Taliban special forces have arrived at the scene to determine the “nature of the blast and to prosecute the perpetrators”.

Last Friday too, an explosion had struck a mosque in Afghanistan that was packed with Shiite Muslim worshippers, killing at least 46 people and wounding dozens. The region’s Islamic State affiliate had claimed responsibility for the attack and identified the bomber as an Uyghur M