KABUL, Afghanistan _ A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a mosque packed with worshippers in Kabul on Friday evening, killing 39 people and wounding dozens as the toll from a week of devastating bombings in Afghanistan continued to rise.
It was the second time in less than two months that militants attacked a Shiite Muslim house of worship in Kabul. Both attacks were claimed by loyalists of the Islamic State militant group, which regards Shiites as apostates.
A suicide bomber also struck a mosque in the central province of Ghor, killing at least 20 people and wounding 10, according to the Afghan interior ministry.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but a police spokesman said a local politician was the target in Ghor, a remote province riven by factional disputes.
The explosions followed two major attacks this week targeting security forces in the south and east. Nearly 200 Afghan security personnel and civilians have been killed in bombings since Monday, according to official tallies.
The attack Friday on western Kabul's Imam Zaman mosque was the latest to strike Afghanistan's Shiite minority, which finds itself increasingly under siege from extremists. The United Nations mission in Afghanistan reported last week that 84 Shiites were killed and 194 injured in attacks during the first nine months of the year.
The mosque was a scene of chaos after the blast, which occurred shortly after sunset. Video footage showed bloodied bodies lying on the carpet, their clothes in tatters, as distraught survivors carried some victims away in sheets.
By the time ambulances reached the mosque, onlookers had already begun transferring injured people to hospitals in private vehicles. Dead bodies were piled on a nearby street, said Sayed Jan Agha, who runs a shop near the mosque.
Agha said he counted 45 bodies, including those of women and children. The Afghan interior ministry said 39 had been killed and 45 wounded.
The Afghan presidential palace condemned the attack in a statement.
"Targeting people in holy places and anywhere else are inhuman and criminal acts of terrorists against human rights and Islamic values," the statement said.
While the United Nations reported that civilian casualties through September were slightly lower than last year _ when more than 8,500 Afghans were killed or wounded in attacks, the most on record _ the spate of bombings has demonstrated the ability of armed groups to attack a range of targets almost anywhere in the country.
The attacks also raise pressure on U.S. military commanders who have said that the deployment of more than 3,000 additional American troops, authorized by President Donald Trump in August at the urging of the Pentagon, will help the struggling Afghan security forces gain a greater grip on their country.
