Dozens of people are dead after bomb explosions rocked a Mosque in eastern Afghanistan during Friday prayers.
Emergency crews are still searching the rubble for more dead and injured people. So far, the attack killed at least 69 people and injured around 50 more, according to Reuters. The attack is the second deadliest of 2019 for Afghanistan.
No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing. The Afghan government has blamed Taliban insurgents. Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen denied the government’s charge and asserted that the bombing was carried out by an Afghan military mortar crew.
Gulabistan, 45, was injured in the bombing and recounted what he remembered from the event. He lost consciousness shortly after the bombs went off.
“Mullah already started prayers and reciting verses of holy Koran, when a huge boom happened, then all around me it got dark, the only thing I remember is females’ voices and then I found myself in the hospital,” Gulabistan said.
Nearly 1,200 Afghan civilians died and about 3,100 more were wounded in violent attacks between the months of July and September. It is the deadliest three-month stretch in the past decade for the country.
