Suicide bombing at Shi’ite mosque kills 7 in northern Afghanistan -official

By Mohammad Yunus Yawar

KABUL (Reuters) -A suicide bombing ripped through a Shi’ite mosque in northern Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least seven worshippers, a government official said.

“A blast has taken place at a Shi’ite mosque,” Baghlan province official Mawlawi Hashimi said.

Seven people were killed during prayer and 15 injured in the attack in the city of Pul e Khumri in Baghlan, he said. All of the casualties were Shi’ites, he said.

Islamic State (IS) militant group claimed responsibility for the attack in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

Afghanistan’s Taliban-run administration has faced an insurgency by IS militants, who have claimed a series of deadly attacks on civilians, foreigners and Taliban security forces in recent months.

Sunni Islamist militants consider Shi’ites to be heretics.

(Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar; Writing by Asif Shahzad; editing by Christina Fincher, Mark Heinrich and Grant McCool)