ISIS claims suicide attack on Afghanistan mosque

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on a Shi'ite mosque in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar that killed at least 47 people and injured 70 more.

In a statement released on its Telegram channels on Saturday (Oct 16), the group said two Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) suicide bombers carried out separate attacks on different parts of the mosque in Kandahar. Khorasan is an old name for the region.

“The first suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest... in a mosque hallway, while the second suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest in the mosque's centre," the statement said.

The group, a bitter rival of the Taliban, a fellow Sunni Islamist movement, which swept back to power in Afghanistan in August as the United States and its allies withdrew, regards Shi'ite Muslims as heretics.

British-based conflict analysis firm ExTrac said Friday's assault was the first by IS-K in Kandahar, and the fourth mass casualty massacre since the Taliban took Kabul.

The Friday assault came just a week after another ISIS-claimed attack on Shi'ite worshippers at a mosque in the northern city of Kunduz that killed more than 60 people.