Iran slams terror attack in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar

In a statement on Friday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi offered his condolences to the Afghan government and nation, especially the families of victims of the heinous crime.
“This act of terror and targeting of defenseless worshippers who were saying their Friday prayers at God’s House shows the nasty nature and vicious goals of terrorists to sow discord among Muslim people of Afghanistan and add fuel to the fire of insecurity and instability in this Muslim neighboring country,” Tasnim quoted Mousavi as saying.
At least 62 worshippers have been killed and dozens injured after multiple explosions rocked a mosque in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province during Friday prayers, according to officials.
It came a day after the United Nations said violence in the country had reached “unacceptable” levels.
The attack in Haska Mena district also wounded at least 33 people, the provincial governor's spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP news agency.
However, another senior official in the province told Reuters that more than 100 people were wounded in the year's second-deadliest attack and the toll could rise.
The blast was carried out with “explosives that were placed inside the mosque”, Khogyani said, though other sources - including the Taliban - said the building may have been hit by a mortar.
Zahir Adil, a spokesman for the public health department in Nangarhar province, said 23 of the wounded were transferred to Jalalabad, the provincial capital, and the rest were being treated in a Haska Mena clinic.
Witnesses said the roof of the mosque had fallen through after the “loud” explosion. Some 350 worshippers were inside at the time, local resident Omar Ghorzang told AFP.