Deadly Bomb Explosion Kills At Least Four At Mosque In Kabul

A deadly blast at a Kabul mosque killed at least four people and injured many more, Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior Affairs said in a statement Friday.

“Explosives placed inside the Shir Shah-E-Suri Mosque exploded during Friday prayers,” an interior ministry spokesman said, adding that the imam of the mosque was also killed, Reuters reported.

Less than 10 days from Wazir Akbar Khan Mosque bombing, today a bombing in Shir Shah Soori mosque in Karte 4 neighborhood of Kabul killed the Imam of the mosque along 3 others and wounded 8 other of the worshippers. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far. pic.twitter.com/DIlnhlMNFv

— Mustafa Kazemi (@CombatJourno) June 12, 2020

Mawlawi Azizullah Mofleh, who served as the imam, was a well-known religious scholar and is the second imam to be killed by an attack this month, according to Voice of America.

Imam Mawlawi Ayaz Niazi was killed in a similar bombing June 2 at the Wazir Mohammad Akbar Khan mosque in downtown Kabul. A local chapter of ISIS claimed responsibility for that attack, calling the imam an apostate and denouncing the Afghan government, ABC News reported.

No group has claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack yet, although the most recent cases of terrorism in Afghanistan have all been carried out by ISIS-affiliated groups. (RELATED: Islamic State Releases Christmas Video Claiming To Show Beheading Of Christians)

Afghan security forces patrol during ongoing clashes between security forces and Islamic State (IS) militants in Kot District in eastern Nangarhar province on July 26, 2016. Attaullah Khogyani, the Nangarhar governor's spokesman, said that Afghan security forces took control of the area where Islamic State (IS) militants were operating courts. According to security officials, they have seized weapons caches, library and court belonging to Islamic State (IS) fighters in the area, authorities further said the army and US forces are providing air support for the ground operation, Afghan security forces toughened anti Islamic State (IS) strikes and military operations in the eastern Nangarhar province after they accepted responsibility for a suicide bombing in a demonstration in Kabul which killed more than 80 people and injured 270 others. / AFP / NOORULLAH SHIRZADA (Photo credit should read NOORULLAH SHIRZADA/AFP via Getty Images)

Afghan security forces patrol area controlled by ISIS (Noorullah Shirzada/AFP via Getty Images)

A suicide bombing killed 24 people during a police commander’s funeral in May and a similar attack that same day led to the deaths of two new-borns after a hospital maternity wing in Kabul was attacked. ISIS-affiliated groups took responsibility for those attacks, as well as an attack that killed two Kabul journalists May 30, Al Jazeera reported.

The Taliban issued a statement Friday condemning the attack and the death of the imam as a “great crime,” ABC News reported. The organization, which claims to be the legitimate government of Afghanistan, has been involved in peace talks with the United States.