More Than 60 Killed in Deadliest Afghanistan Mosque Bombing in History

The explosion took place at a mosque in Nangarhar, Afghanistan. (Wikimedia Commons)

A two-part explosion at a mosque in the Nangarhar province of eastern Afghanistan killed 62 people and severely wounded 36 on October 18, according to BBC. The roof caved in and collapsed onto worshipers, who were in the middle of Friday prayers.

A local police officer from the scene recounted his experience, stating that one second the mullah, an Islamic theologian, was speaking, and then “suddenly his voice was silenced with a boom.... When I arrived on the scene, people were trying to bring out the bodies and injured who were stuck under the fallen roof.”

Information on the blast is limited. No group has claimed responsibility. Many, including President Ashraf Ghani’s spokesperson Sediq Sediqq, have denounced the Taliban for attacking civilians. However, the Taliban has denied responsibility for this explosion, TOLOnews reports. Suspicion continues to linger, especially because both the Islamic State (ISIS) and the Taliban are known to be active in this region.

The tragedy comes only a day after a United Nations report revealed that civilian casualties in Afghanistan have reached unprecedented, record levels. Just from July 1 to September 20, 1,174 people were killed and another 3,139 were wounded—the deadliest quarter on record, according to Al Jazeera. In fact, civilian casualties increased by almost half—42 percent—in comparison to the same period the previous year.

Additional figures from the report paint a similar picture. Of these casualties, 41 percent were women and children. Sixty-two percent of casualties were at the hands of insurgency forces such as the Taliban, marking the first time this year that the U.S. and pro-government forces in Afghanistan were not responsible for most casualties.

This recent presidential election season was correlated with a spike in election-related violence The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said that across a total of over 100 separate incidents, 85 civilians were killed and over 370 were wounded.

The Taliban often discourages voting out of opposition to the government system through terrorist attacks and blasts. As a result, Afghanistan’s voter turnout reached record lows this year. The results of this year’s election have yet to be announced. Regardless of election season, this quarter’s violence is unprecedented and more deadly compared to past election seasons.

The UNAMA points to this spike in violence as proof of the need for peace talks in the region. According to NPR, Tadamichi Yamamoto, the special representative for Afghanistan from the UN, said, “Civilian casualties are totally unacceptable, especially in the context of the widespread recognition that there can be no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan.”

Yamamoto continued by saying, “Civilian casualties at record-high levels clearly show the need for all parties concerned to pay much more attention to protecting the civilian populations.”

The U.S. has begun to discuss with the Taliban the prospect of restarting negotiations, though they have not yet reached an agreement.