A powerful explosion has hit a mosque in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz during Friday prayers, killing at least six people, BBC reported. Images posted on social media said to be of the aftermath of the blast show extensive damage in the mosque, used by the Shia Muslim community. The death toll is expected to rise. In a short statement posted to Twitter, a Taliban spokesman said a number of people had been killed and injured. A doctor in Kunduz told the BBC at least six deaths had been reported at a private hospital. No group has said it was behind the explosion. The continuation of violence, even after the Taliban takeover in August, has been met with dismay by ordinary Afghans, BBC Afghanistan correspondent Secunder Kermani reports. The Taliban took control of Afghanistan after foreign forces withdrew from the country following a deal between the US and the Taliban, two decades after US forces removed the militants from power in 2001.
