Sharjah 24 – AFP: A blast ripped through a mosque packed with worshippers in the Afghan capital Kabul Wednesday night, killing 21 people and wounding two dozen others, police said Thursday.
The explosion occurred as people were offering evening prayers at the mosque, in a northwest district of Kabul.
The Italian non-governmental organisation Emergency, which operates a hospital in Kabul, said it had received 27 victims from the blast, including three fatalities.
"Most of the patients we received following the explosion inside a mosque are suffering from shell and burn injuries," it said via email.
In a later tweet, the hospital said five children were among those it treated, including a seven-year-old.
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed there were dead and wounded in the blast, but did not specify how many.
"The murderers of civilians and perpetrators... will soon be punished for their crimes," he said on Twitter.
Some local social media accounts said a senior cleric had been killed in the blast, but the reports could not be independently confirmed.
Wednesday's blast comes nearly a week after a suicide attack killed a top Taliban cleric at his madrassa in Kabul.
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