Multiple civilians killed in blast outside Kabul mosque hosting prayer service for Taliban leader's mother

Zabihullah Majuhid.
(Image credit: AAMIR QURESHI/AFP via Getty Images)

A fatal explosion took place outside a mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed. Agence France-Presse reports that at least two civilians are dead, but the death toll may climb considering Mujahid said a "number of civilians" were killed in the blast.

The perpetrators targeted the gates of the capital's Eidgah Mosque where a funeral service for Mujahid's mother was being held, CNN reports. While no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, the Islamic State's Afghanistan affiliate, which considers the Taliban an enemy, targeted the new regime in a spate of attacks in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad last month, and the terrorist group has been active in Kabul in the past, including during the evacuation of the United States and other Western powers from the city in August. Read more at CNN and AFP.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.