Mosque suicide attack kills six in Afghanistan

ASADABAD: A suicide bomber on Friday attacked a mosque in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least six people including a district police chief, a government official said.

The attack happened as worshippers were leaving the mosque after the main Friday prayers in the Qazi Abad area of the eastern province of Kunar, which borders Pakistan, said provincial governor Fazullulah Wahidi.

“The attacker detonated his explosives in the mosque, killing the district police chief, an intelligence officer, two police and two civilians,” the governor told AFP.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Kunar has been a flashpoint in the Taliban’s 10-year insurgency against the Western-backed government and 140,000 US-led foreign troops.

The attack came three days after coordinated attacks on Shia Muslims in the capital Kabul and the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif killed at least 59 people in an unprecedented assault on the holy day of Ashura.

Read more: http://www.dawn.com/2011/12/09/mosque-suicide-attack-kills-six-in-afghanistan.html


by Amir Shah | AP:
KABUL, Afghanistan —
A suicide bomber blew himself up Friday at a mosque in northeast Afghanistan, killing four people, including a local police chief, authorities said.
The bombing occurred about 2 p.m. in the yard of a mosque in Ghazi Abad district of Kunar province after Friday prayers, said Gen. Ewaz Mohammad Naziri, the provincial police chief.
Naziri said the district police chief, his body guard, a civilian and an employee of the Afghan intelligence service died in the attack. Five others were wounded in the blast, he said.
"It was a brutal act against Afghan Muslims inside a mosque," he said. "They had gathered for prayers and he entered and blew himself up."
The Ministry of Interior condemned the bombing.
Friday marked the last day of the Muslim holiday of Ashoura, but the bombing was not related to that event, which is observed mostly by Shiite Muslims. Most residents of Kunar province are Sunni Muslims.
In the Afghan capital, more than 2,000 Afghans gathered on the final day of Ashoura and denounced neighboring Pakistan for this week's bombing at a shrine in Kabul that has stirred anti-Pakistan sentiment in the nation. Ashoura commemorates the death in the seventh century of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson.

Related articles

• Afghan police: Suicide bombing kills 4 people (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Posted in: Afghanistan, Suicide bomber