Tragedy as at least 62 people killed in Afghanistan mosque blast during Friday prayers

At least 62 people, including children, have been killed after a bomb exploded in a mosque in eastern Afghanistan during Friday prayers.

Another 36 people were wounded in the attack in the Haskamena district of Nagarhar province, said Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor.

He added there were children among the dead and wounded.

The roof of the mosque had fallen in due to the blast, said Mr Khogyani.

The mortar was fired by insurgents but no militant group has claimed responsibility so far.

Both the Taliban and Islamic State are active in eastern Afghanistan, especially Nangarhar province.

Zahir Adil, spokesman for the public health department in Nangarhar Province, said: "There are both children among both the killed and wounded in the attack."

Six civilians, including four children, were killed when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Herat province in the west of the country.

Jelani Farhad, spokesman for the provincial governor, added that five other civilians were wounded in Thursday afternoon's attack in the Zawal district.

The violence comes a day after a United Nations report said Afghan civilians are dying in record numbers in the country's increasingly brutal war, noting that more civilians died in July than in any previous one-month period since the UN began keeping statistics.

The report said 2,653 civilians were killed and 5,676 were wounded in the first nine months of this year, while July to September were the deadliest months so far this year.

Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN secretary-general's special representative for Afghanistan, said: "Civilian casualties at record-high levels clearly show the need for all parties concerned to pay much more attention to protecting the civilian population, including through a review of conduct during combat operations."

The report said that pro-government forces caused 2,348 civilian casualties, including 1,149 killed and 1,199 wounded, a 26% increase from the same period in 2018.

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