Muslim worshippers killed in Afghanistan mosque explosion by ISIS

A bomb exploded Friday inside a mosque in west Kabul killing at least four people, including the prayer leader, and wounding an unknown number of others, an Afghan government official said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said a bomb had been placed inside the mosque but had no additional details. Police cordoned off the area and helped move the wounded to ambulances and nearby hospitals.

Violence has spiked in recent weeks in Afghanistan with most of the attacks claimed by the ISIS affiliate, headquartered in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. Earlier this month, an ISIS suicide bomber attacked a mosque in Kabul’s posh Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood, killing the prayer leader and wounding eight others.

The United States blamed the ISIS affiliate for a horrific attack last month on a maternity hospital in the capital that killed 24 people, including two infants and several new mothers. The hospital was located in the city’s Shia dominated area of Dasht-e-Barchi.

The ISIS group has declared war on the country’s minority Shia Muslims but has also attacked Sunni Muslim mosques. The mosque targeted Friday is Sunni.

The ISIS affiliate also took responsibility for an attack on a bus carrying journalists in Kabul on May 30, killing two. Also, it claimed credit for an attack on the funeral of a warlord loyal to the government last month that killed 35 people.

Washington’s peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was in the region earlier this week trying to resuscitate a US peace deal with the Taliban, which is expected to eventually be enlisted in the fight against the IS affiliate.

The peace deal signed in February to allow US and NATO troops to leave Afghanistan includes a commitment by the Taliban to fight terrorism and a vow that Afghanistan would not be used to attack the United States or its allies.

Washington previously said the Taliban have been instrumental — along with Afghanistan’s National Security and Defense Forces and US air strikes — in reducing the IS’s strength in eastern Afghanistan.