KHOST: At least 20 people were killed and dozens more wounded in a suicide attack on a Shiite mosque in eastern
Afghanistan today, officials said, warning that the toll could rise.
"We have 20 people killed and around 50 others were wounded," General Raz Mohammad Mandozai, provincial police chief of Paktia province, near the Pakistan border, told AFP. A second official said there were at least 70 dead and wounded in the attack.
The attack comes as urban areas across Afghanistan have been rocked by an increasing number of attacks in recent months, with both the Islamic State (IS) and Taliban insurgents targeting security forces and government installations.
The Taliban has not claimed a major attack in a city for weeks as it comes under increased pressure to agree to peace talks with the Afghan government.
But IS has carried out multiple attacks in the eastern city of Jalalabad and the capital Kabul in recent months, targeting everything from government ministries to a midwife training centre.
Last month an IS suicide bomber blew himself up near Kabul international airport, killing 23 people including AFP driver Mohammad Akhtar.
The increased attacks come as US and Afghan forces intensify ground and air offensives against IS, and the Taliban step up their turf war with the group.
