KABUL
\nA blast that tore through a Kabul mosque during evening prayers on Wednesday killed 21 people, Kabul police said on Thursday, as the United Nations expressed concern over a growing number of civilian casualties from explosions. Police spokesperson Khalid Zadran said that another 33 people had been injured in the blast, which witnesses told Reuters shattered the windows of buildings near the mosque in a northern Kabul neighbourhood.
\nThere was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident and authorities did not publicly assign blame.
\nThe Taliban said they were restoring security to the war-torn country, which has seen an overall drop in violence since the group took over and defeated a US-backed government a year ago. However, several large attacks, some claimed by Dai\u2019sh, have taken place in urban centres in recent months.
\nThe United Nations\u2019 mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA), in a series of tweets, condemned the blast and expressed concern over a \u2018disturbing\u2019 series of explosions which have killed and wounded more than 250 people in recent weeks, the highest monthly number of civilian casualties in the past year.
\n\u201cWith security deteriorating, the UN calls on the de facto Taliban authorities to take concrete steps to prevent all forms of terrorism in Afghanistan,\u201d UNAMA said.
\nEmergency Hospital, a facility run by an Italian NGO that specialises in treating victims of war, said in a statement it had admitted 27 people, including five children, who were wounded in the mosque blast. Two people had arrived dead and one patient died in the emergency room, Emergency\u2019s Afghanistan country director Stefano Sozza said.
\nIn August so far, the hospital has treated 80 patients from six different mass casualty events, which include blasts and mass shootings.
\n\u201cThe country is suffering the consequences of a very long conflict that has undermined its future,\u201d Sozza said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KABUL A blast that tore through a Kabul mosque during evening prayers on Wednesday killed 21 people, Kabul police said on Thursday, as the United Nations expressed concern over a growing number of civilian casualties from explosions. Police spokesperson Khalid Zadran said that another 33 people had been injured in the blast, which witnesses told […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278154,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-278135","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n