30 Reported Killed as Suicide Bomber Strikes Shia Mosque in Kabul

File photo of Afghan security forces inspecting the site of a suicide attack near a Shia mosque in Kabul on September 29, 2017. (REUTERS/Omar Sobhani)

Kabul: A suicide bomber killed at least 30 people inside a Shia mosque in the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday night, a security official said, the latest in a string of violent attacks on the country’s Shia minority.

The attack occurred at Imam Zaman mosque in the western Dasht-e-Barchi part of Kabul, as Shia worshippers gathered for prayers.

A senior security official said the exact number of casualties was unknown but that security forces at the scene had removed at least 30 bodies.

Afghanistan’s Shia population has been heavily hit this year, with at least 84 people killed and 194 wounded in attacks on their mosques and religious ceremonies, according to a United Nations report released last week.

Among those were at least two attacks on mosques in Kabul in August and September.