Islamabad, Jun. 8, (dpa/GNA) - An explosion during a funeral service for a Taliban official killed this week ripped through a mosque on Thursday in the city of Faizabad in northern Afghanistan, Afghan media reported.
According to the Taliban spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, Abdul Nafi Takor, bombers caused an explosion during a funeral prayer for the Taliban deputy governor of Badakhshan province, Mawlawi Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, who was killed in an attack only this week. Takor said 11 people were killed and more than 30 injured.
The Afghan news channel TOLOnews, citing a local hospital, spoke of 15 dead and 50 injured.
The former Taliban police chief of Baghlan province, Safiullah Samim, is among the dead, according to the Director of Information and Culture in Badakhshan, Moesuddin Ahmadi.
In a statement issued to journalists, Ahmadi called on citizens to donate blood for the victims.
According to dpa information, senior Taliban officials may also have been killed.
A picture obtained by dpa is said to show the mosque after the attack. Scraps of cloth soaked in blood and debris on the ground can be seen. Another picture shows a large cloud of smoke visible from the street.
GNA