Afghanistan: Separate blasts at mosques kill 22, many wounded

An explosion at a Shi`ite mosque in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif on Thursday killed at least 11 people.

Separate explosions at Afghan cities of Mazar-e-Sharif and Kunduz have killed at least 22 people and leaft many wounded. An explosion at a Shi`ite mosque in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif killed at least 11 people, a health official said. A separate blast caused at least 11 more casualties in Kunduz, another northern Afghan city, according to a provincial health official.

The explosions came during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and two days after blasts tore through a high school in a predominantly Shi`ite Hazara area in western Kabul, killing at least six.

"A blast happened in 2nd district inside a Shi`ite mosque," Mohammad Asif Wazeri, the spokesman for the Taliban commander in Mazar-e-Sharif told Reuters. Zia Zendani, the spokesman for the provincial health authority, said 11 people had been killed and 32 wounded in the blast.

The Shi`ite community, a religious minority in Afghanistan, is frequently targeted by Sunni militant groups, including Islamic State.

Hospitals in Kunduz had received 11 killed or wounded people in a separate explosion, according to Najeebullah Sahel, from Kunduz`s provincial health authority.