An explosion inside a mosque in north-east Afghanistan has killed 11 people and injured 30.
Reports say several local Taliban officials were among those killed or wounded.
A local official said the blast happened during a prayer service for the deputy governor of Badakhshan province, who was killed by a car bomb earlier this week.
The Islamic State militant group said it carried out the car bomb attack. Thursday’s explosion happened at 11:00 local time in the provincial capital, Faizabad.
Mourners were attending the funeral of Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, the Acting Taliban Provincial Governor of Badakhshan, who was killed on his way to work on Tuesday. One other person was killed and six wounded in that attack.
Two sources confirmed to the BBC that two local Taliban officials were killed at the mosque. They include the former Police Commander of northern Baghlan Province, Safiullah Samim, according to a statement offering condolences from another police chief.
“The Ministry of Interior of the IEA condemns this brutality of the disgraced enemies,” a statement said of the blast.
Eyewitnesses said gunfire could be heard after the explosion. Footage sent to the BBC shows several casualties arriving at the hospital in the provincial capital by ambulance.
Milad is packing his rucksack for the first time since his school in the west of Kabul was attacked by extremists last month.
The 15-year-old pupil wasn’t hurt when the first bomb went off, but his father raced to the scene to try to find him, only to be killed in a second explosion.
A poster commemorating Mir Hossein hangs outside the family home, along with a few verses of poetry. “Through your blood, you gave meaning to love,” reads one line.
“It feels really hard to go back to school,” Milad tells us, walking alongside his older brother and uncle. “My heart doesn’t want me to.”
Milad, and most of the residents in his neighbourhood, Dashte-e-Barchi, are members of the Shia Hazara minority.
The area has been repeatedly attacked by the local branch of the Islamic State group, who are suspected of being behind the bombing at Milad’s school. —BBC
