Blast near Afghan deputy governor's funeral kills at least 15, injures 50

An explosion at the funeral service of an Afghan provincial governor, who was assassinated earlier this week, claimed the lives of at least 15 people on Thursday, TOLOnews reported citing a local official.

The explosion at the funeral of the acting governor of northeastern Badakhshan province also wounded more than 50 people that had gathered for a mosque service honouring Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi.

The explosion hit the Nabawi mosque in the Hesa-e-Awal area of Faizabad.

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Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai took to Twitter and strongly condemned the attack that struck the Nabawi mosque in the Hesa-e Awal neighbourhood of Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan province.

He labelled the attack an act of “terrorism”, “against human and Islamic standards”, while conveying his condolences to the families affected.

The interior ministry released a statement condemning the attack. "The Ministry of Interior of the IEA condemns this brutality of the disgraced enemies," a statement said of the blast in the provincial capital of Faizabad.

"I was standing outside the mosque to receive the guests coming, suddenly a terrible sound shook the mosque," said witness Naseer Ahmad.

"When I entered the mosque, I saw bloodied dead bodies laying on the ground," AFP quoted the 37-year-old as saying.

As per AFP reports, the Taliban government security forces had set up checkpoints around the funeral site in the morning.

The blast led to panic, forcing the people to flee to nearby streets and shops to close as security forces sealed the area.

IS claims responsibility for Ahmadi's killing

On Tuesday, Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, the deputy governor of Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province, was killed along with his driver in a vehicle bombing.

The responsibility for the assassination was claimed by the Islamic State.

An IS suicide bomber rammed his car filled with explosives into Ahmadi's vehicle in Faizabad. Six others were also injured in the attack.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) took to Twitter and said it "unequivocally condemns this and a recent spate of appalling and indiscriminate attacks that have shown a total disregard for civilian lives".

(With inputs from agencies)

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