Officials in Afghanistan say a suicide blast inside a crowded Shi’ite Muslim mosque in Kabul has killed at least 40 worshippers and wounded dozens more.

Eyewitnesses and security officials told VOA the bomber walked into the Imam Zaman Mosque on Friday evening in the western Dashti Barchh area of the capital city and blew himself up. Women and children were said to be among the victims.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility. Suspicion, however, fell on the Afghan branch of the Islamic State terrorist group, which has taken credit for recent bombings of Shi’ite worship places in Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan.

Hours earlier, a suicide blast hit a mosque in the central Afghan province of Ghor. Officials confirmed to VOA the attack killed at least 20 worshippers and wounded an unspecified number of people.

A pro-government former Afghan jihadi commander reportedly was offering prayers along with his supporters when the bomber stormed the mosque. No one claimed responsibility for that attack.

Nearly 200 people, mostly security forces, have died in separate militant attacks across Afghanistan this week, making it one of the worst in recent months.

They include a Taliban bomb-and-gun attack in the province of Kandahar that killed at least 43 Afghan soldiers on Thursday. The insurgent assault almost wiped out the Afghan National Army base in the district of Maiwand.

On Tuesday, a twin suicide car bombing of the police headquarters in eastern Paktia province killed at least 60 people and wounded 300. The provincial police chief was among the dead. A separate attack the same day in the nearby Ghazni province left at least 20 people dead.
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