by At least 11 people were killed in a series of separate blasts that hit a mosque in Kabul and vehicles in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
A series of explosions in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif has killed nine people, while a mosque blast in the capital Kabul has left at least two worshipers dead, officials say.
A bomb blast near a mosque in the capital Kabul late Wednesday killed at least two people and injured 10 others, the interior ministry said.
Kabul Emergency Hospital posted on Twitter that five people were killed in the blast at the mosque and another 22 were injured.
Al Jazeera could not independently verify the death toll.
Several ambulances rushed to a mosque in Kabul to transport the victims of the blast, eyewitnesses said.
No further details were given about the blast that struck Hazrat Zakaria Mosque in the city’s central police district 4, according to Khalid Zadran, a Taliban police spokesman in Kabul.
“The explosion took place while people were inside the mosque for evening prayers,” Zadran said, adding that they were waiting for information.
Minibuses were targeted in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif and explosive devices were placed inside the vehicles, according to Mohammad Asif Waziri, a Taliban-appointed spokesman in Balkh province. He said the blasts killed nine and injured 15.
“The bombs were detonated on three minibuses in different parts of the city,” Waziri said, adding that 15 other people were injured.
ISIL assumes responsibility
ISIL (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attacks in Mazar-e-Sharif in a message posted on the Aamaq news agency.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast at a mosque in Kabul, but it also bore the brunt of a regional branch of ISIL known as Islamic State in Khorasan Province, ISKP (ISIS-K).
The number of bombings has dropped across the country since the Taliban seized power last August, but many cities were rocked by bombings during the holy month of Ramadan.
Dozens of civilians were killed during Ramadan in mainly sectarian attacks – some of which are blamed on ISKP.
The ISKP, which has been active in Afghanistan since 2014, is considered the biggest security challenge facing the country’s Taliban leaders.
Following their capture, the Taliban launched a sweeping crackdown on ISKP headquarters in eastern Afghanistan.
