The Islamic State (IS) terror group has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing at a mosque in Afghanistan’s Kunduz province that left at least over 45 people dead and hundreds of others injured, the media reported on Saturday.
In a statement issued on Friday night, the terror group identified the suicide bomber as Muhammad, an Uyghur Muslim, reports Khaama Press.
The blast occurred inside a Shia Muslim mosque building in Kunduz city, the provincial capital, at around 2 p.m. when over 300 hundred people were attending the Friday prayers.
However, there were conflicting reports over the death toll.
While the director of the culture and information department in Kunduz said that 43 people were killed, local Afghan media have put the toll between 46 to 50. Local security officials said over 300 hundred people were at the mosque during the time of the blast. Witnesses have said over 100 worshippers were killed and wounded in the attack.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan had also said in initial reports that over 100 people were killed and wounded. The Taliban have condemned the attack and pledged to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a tweet that the movement’s special forces had arrived on the scene of the Kunduz explosion to start investigating after “a number of our compatriots were martyred and injured.” Kunduz residents organized a blood drive to aid survivors
A doctor at a Kunduz hospital run by the Doctors Without Borders aid organization said that, in his clinic alone, some 20 people were sent to the morgue and dozens of others among the 200 patients admitted after the blast were in critical condition.
“This is the bloodiest attack I have seen in my life,” said the doctor, whose hospital was hit by an errant U.S. airstrike in 2015. “The floor of each intensive-care unit is filled with blood—it is like a blood river.” Other hospitals in Kunduz also received casualties from the explosion.
(With IANS inputs)