Blast in Afghan mosque injures at least 25

Kabul

At least 25 Afghan civilians were wounded when a bomb ripped through a crowd of worshippers waiting for food to break their Ramadan fast inside a mosque compound in northern Afghanistan today, officials said.

The violence comes a day after a suicide attacker killed 33 people in one of the deadliest day for civilians this year, as insurgents ramp up violence across the country.

Monday's bombing in the city of Puli Khumri, capital of Afghanistan's Baghlan province came as worshippers had finished their evening prayers in a local mosque and were waiting for food packages, provided by the local government, to break the dawn-til-dusk fast held throughout the holy month of Ramadan.

"The explosives had been placed inside the mosque compound, and went off as the worshippers and poor people had gathered to receive the food packages," provincial police chief Abdul Jabar Purdeli told AFP.

"Twenty-eight people, the majority of them civilians, were injured. Four are in serious condition," he said.

Interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi put the wounded toll at 25, however, including one female member of the provincial council.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, though authorities pointed the finger at the Taliban.