A blast at a Shiite mosque Thursday in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif killed at least 11 people and wounded dozens, a health official said, one of a series of blasts around the country.
"A blast happened in 2nd district inside a Shiite mosque," Mohammad Asif Wazeri, the spokesperson for the Taliban commander in Mazar-e-Sharif told Reuters.
Zia Zendani, the spokesperson for the provincial health authority, said 11 people had been killed and 32 wounded in the blast.
A separate blast caused at least 11 more casualties in Kunduz, another northern Afghan city, according to a provincial health official.
The explosions came during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and two days after blasts tore through a high school in a predominantly Shiite Hazara area in western Kabul, killing at least six people and wounding 11. The Shiite community, a religious minority in Afghanistan, is frequently targeted by Sunni militant groups, including Daesh.
A resident of Mazar-e-Sharif said she was shopping with her sister in a nearby market when she heard a large explosion and saw smoke rising from the area around the mosque.
"The glass of the shops was broken and it was very crowded and everyone started to run," the woman, who declined to be named, said.
Afghanistan's Taliban rulers say they have secured the country since taking power in August, but international officials and analysts say the risk of a resurgence in militancy remains and the Daesh militant group has claimed several attacks.
