Afghan mosque bombings death toll hits 72

39 dead in Kabul attack, top pro-govt military leader among 33 killed in Ghor

KABUL: Suicide bombers attacked two mosques in Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least 72 people including children, officials and witnesses said.

One bomber walked into a mosque in the capital Kabul as people were praying on Friday night and detonated an explosive, Mahmood Shah Husaini, an eyewitness, said.

At least 39 people died in the blast at the Imam Zaman mosque in the city's western Dasht-e-Barchi district, interior ministry spokesperson Najib Danish said.

Separately, a suicide bombing killed at least 33 people at a mosque in central Ghor province.

Iqbal Nezami, a spokesperson for the Ghor provincial police, said the bombing at a mosque in the district of Dulaina appeared to target Fazl-ul-Ahad Khan, a top local politician and a pro-government military leader of the Jamiat political party.

According to a statement from Balkh provincial governor Atta Mohammad Noor, Khan, a commander of the public uprising forces in Ghor, was killed along with as many as 30 other worshippers.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack.