IS claims Afghan mosque blast that killed 12 worshippers

KABUL: The Jihadist Islamic State claimed it carried out this week’s attack on a mosque on the outskirts of the Afghan capital that left 12 worshippers dead, SITE Intelligence Group reported.

The explosion happened inside a mosque in Shakar Darah district of Kabul province during Friday prayers and shattered the relative calm of a three-day ceasefire agreed between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

IS said its fighters had placed an explosive device inside the mosque and detonated it after worshippers arrived to offer prayers on the second day of the Eidul Fitr holidays, the US monitor of Jihadist groups said late Saturday. In recent weeks, fighting between the Taliban and government forces had surged across several provinces before the ceasefire was agreed, including in the southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand.