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Powerful explosion at mosque in Afghanistan kills at least 10

A powerful explosion has ripped through a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul, killing at least 10 people and wounding as many as 30, a Taliban spokesman said.

Hundreds of worshippers had gathered for prayers on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Khalifa Aga Gul Jan Mosque was packed, said local residents, fearing the casualty toll could rise further.

The Taliban-appointed interior ministry spokesman, Mohammad Nafi Takor, could not provide more details and Taliban security men cordoned off the area. The source of the explosion was not immediately known and no one has claimed responsibility for the blast.

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An afghan blood-stained worshiper walks around the mosque where the explosion took place, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, April 29, 2022. A powerful explosion ripped through a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Friday, killing at least 10 people and wounding 20, a Taliban spokesman said. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Initially, at least 20 were reported wounded but Khalid Zadran, spokesman for the Taliban-appointed Kabul police chief, later raised the number to as many as 30.

The death toll remained at 10, he said and also tweeted that “security agencies are investigating the incident".

The explosion was so loud that the neighbourhood of the mosque shook from the blast, the residents said, speaking on condition of anonymity, fearing for their own safety.

Ambulances raced to the site, driving up to the end of a narrow street in an eastern neighbourhood of Kabul to reach the mosque, which belongs to Afghanistan’s majority Sunni Muslims.

Wahid, an Afghan in his 30s, said he was home when he heard about the blast and rushed to the mosque right away, knowing his brother was there. He recalled the scene of mayhem, the screams and shouts for help. He helped carry the wounded to ambulances.

“Everyone was crying and covered in blood,” he said.

“I was told my brother had been hurt."

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People leave the site of an explosion as a Taliban fighter stands guard in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, April 29, 2022. A powerful explosion ripped through a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Friday, killing at least 10 people and wounding 20, a Taliban spokesman said. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

The Associated Press spoke to Wahid outside the Italian-run emergency hospital, where he had gone to give blood, but Taliban guards cordoned off the hospital, denying access to everyone but the wounded. He finally found his brother, wounded in the arm and leg.

The hospital, which treats only the war-wounded, tweeted that its staff reported the facility has admitted at least “23 wounded” and two who died shortly after the explosion.

Javid, who appeared to be in his late 20s, said he was on his way to the mosque to join his brother and cousin, who were already there, when he heard the explosion. He rushed to the scene.

“I was so afraid and ran there,” he said, adding that he had found both his brother and their cousin, slightly injured and released after treatment.

The explosion was so powerful, Javid said, the roof of the mosque collapsed.

Wahid and Javid would only give their first names to the AP, fearing for their own safety.

The United Nations condemned the explosion, describing it as “heinous” and “yet another painful blow to the people of Afghanistan who continue to be exposed to unremitting insecurity and violence,” according to Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN's deputy special representative coordinating humanitarian relief.

“It is unconscionable for civilians to be targeted indiscriminately as they go about their daily business, gathering for prayers, going to school or the market, or on their way to work,” he said.

The explosion was the latest in a series of such blasts amid relentless attacks across the country. Similar attacks on mosques have recently targeted the country's minority Shiite Muslims and were claimed by the Islamic State group's regional affiliate, known as Islamic State in Khorasan Province or IS-K.

IS has stepped up its attacks across Afghanistan to become the primary enemy of the Taliban since their takeover of the country last August.

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Ambulance carrying wounded people leaves the site of an explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, April 29, 2022. A powerful explosion ripped through a mosque in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Friday, killing at least 10 people and wounding 20, a Taliban spokesman said. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Despite Taliban claims to have routed IS from its headquarters in eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, the militant group's renewed assaults on mosques, schools and buses underscore the intransigent threat it poses.

Last week, 33 Shiite worshippers died in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, when a bomb struck their mosque and an adjacent religious school. IS has claimed responsibility for that attack.

There are also other militant groups operating in Afghanistan and despite Taliban promises that Afghan territory would not be used to harbour non-Afghan insurgents, militants fighting many of Afghanistan's neighbours have found a safe haven in the country.

The relentless bombings have prompted protests by minority Shiites and have seriously undermined Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers as they transition from insurgency and war to governing and trying to bring security to the war-ravaged nation.

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UN tries to evacuate civilians from besieged Mariupol

The United Nations has doggedly sought to broker an evacuation of civilians from the increasingly hellish ruins of Mariupol.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has accused Russia of showing its contempt for the world organisation by bombing Kyiv while the UN leader was visiting the capital.

The mayor of Mariupol said the situation inside the steel plant that has become the southern port city’s last stronghold is dire, and citizens are “begging to get saved".

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Firefighters put out a fire after a Russian rocket attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 28, 2022. Russia mounted attacks across a wide area of Ukraine on Thursday, bombarding Kyiv during a visit by the head of the United Nations. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Mayor Vadym Boichenko added, "There, it’s not a matter of days. It’s a matter of hours.”

Ukraine’s forces, meanwhile, fought to hold off Russian attempts to advance in the south and east, where the Kremlin is seeking to capture the country's industrial Donbas region.

Artillery fire, sirens and explosions could be heard in some cities.

Russia pounded targets all over Ukraine on Thursday, hitting a residential high-rise and another building in Kyiv. US-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said one of its journalists was killed.

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In an apparent reference to the attack, Russia's Defence Ministry said it had destroyed "production buildings" at the Artem defence factory in Kyiv.

The bombardment came barely an hour after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a news conference with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who toured some of the destruction in and around Kyiv and condemned attacks on civilians.

"This says a lot about Russia's true attitude toward global institutions, about attempts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the UN and everything the organisation represents," Zelenskyy said late Thursday in his nightly video address to the nation. "Therefore, it requires a correspondingly powerful response."

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack was Russian President Vladimir Putin's way of giving Guterres "his middle finger".

The strikes were the boldest Russian attack on the capital since Moscow's forces retreated weeks ago following their failure to take the city. Russia is now pushing into the Donbas, the country's eastern industrial region, which the Kremlin says is its main objective.

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Getting a full picture of the unfolding battle in the east has been difficult because airstrikes and artillery barrages have made it extremely dangerous for reporters to move around. Both Ukraine and the Moscow-backed rebels fighting in the east also have introduced tight restrictions on reporting from the combat zone.

But so far, Russia's troops and the separatist forces appear to have made only minor gains, and Britain's Defence Ministry said those have been achieved at significant cost to the Kremlin's forces.

One aim of Guterres' visit was to secure the evacuation of people from the ruined southern port of Mariupol, including a shattered steelworks where an estimated 2000 Ukrainian defenders and 1000 civilians were holed up in the last major stronghold of resistance in the city. Previous evacuation attempts fell through.

About 100,000 people are believed trapped in the city with little water, food, heat or electricity.

"I cannot confirm the exact details of the operation to make sure it is done with safety for our people and for civilians stranded in Mariupol" said Saviano Abreu, a spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office.

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An official in Zelenskyy's office said negotiations were underway with UN mediation.

Two towns in Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region were hit by Russian rockets on Friday, the regional governor said. There was no immediate word on casualties or damage.

The governor of Russia's Kursk region said that a border post came under mortar fire from Ukraine and that Russian border forces returned fire. He said there were no casualties on the Russian side.

Thursday's explosions in northwestern Kyiv's Shevchenkivsky district shook the city. Flames poured out the windows of the buildings hit.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty said the body of Vira Hyrych, a journalist who had worked for the broadcaster since 2018 and who lived in one of the buildings, was found in the rubble on Friday.

Radio Free Europe President Jamie Fly said the broadcaster was "shocked and angered by the senseless nature of her death at home in a country and city she loved."

Ten people were wounded in the attack, including at least one who lost a leg, according to emergency officials.

Kyiv had been relatively unscathed in recent weeks, and cafes and other businesses have started to reopen, while a growing numbers of people have been out and about, enjoying the spring weather.

The terrible human cost of the war, which has driven more than 11 million Ukrainians from their homes, continues to climb.

In Lyman, a town in Donetsk, in the Donbas, shells rained on Tatiana Matsegora's home this week. Matsegora's 14-year-old grandson, Igor, was declared dead after rescue workers drove him to the hospital. Her daughter was in serious condition, and her son-in-law was also killed.

"Grandma, will I live?" she said Igor asked her when they were in the basement, waiting for help. "I said that he would live. But look what happened: I betrayed him."