An explosion inside a mosque in northeastern Afghanistan has claimed several lives.
According to reports, several local Taliban officials are among those killed or injured.
A local official said the blast occurred during a prayer service for the deputy governor of Badakhshan province, who was killed in a car bombing earlier this week.
The Islamic State militant group said it carried out the car bomb attack.
Taliban Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Thakur tweeted that at least 11 people were killed and 30 injured in the explosion at a mosque in the provincial capital, Faizabad, based on preliminary information. The attack took place at 11 pm local time.
“The Ministry of Interior of the IEA condemns this barbarity by the disgraced enemies,” a statement said.
Mourners attended the funeral of Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, the acting Taliban provincial governor of Badakhshan, who was killed on his way to work on Tuesday. Another person was killed and six injured in this attack.
Two local Taliban officials were killed in the mosque, two sources confirmed to JEE News. Among them is Safiullah Samim, former police commander of northern Baghlan province, according to a condolence statement from another police chief.
Eyewitnesses say that gunshots were heard after the explosion.
Footage sent to JEE News shows several injured people arriving by ambulance at a hospital in the capital.
