Explosions kill Afghan mosque, minivans targeted

A series of explosions shook Afghanistan on Wednesday, including a blast inside a mosque in Kabul, killing five worshippers and three bombings of minivans in the country's north that killed nine passengers, according to the Taliban.

The local Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the minivan bombings.

The Kabul Emergency Hospital said it received 22 victims of the mosque bombing, including five dead. There were no more details on the blast that struck the Hazrat Zakaria Mosque in the city's central police district 4, according to Khalid Zadran, a Taliban spokesman in Kabul.

The blast took place while people were inside the mosque for the evening prayers, according to Zadran, who said they were waiting for an update.

The minivans were targeted in the northern city of Mazar-e- Sharif after explosive devices were placed inside the vehicles, according to Mohammad Asif Waziri, a Taliban-appointed spokesman in Balkh province. He said nine people were killed and 15 wounded in the explosions.

The IS claim of responsibility was posted on the Sunni militant group's Aamaq news agency. Three buses were targeted by IS with improvised explosive devices, according to the statement.

There was no claim of responsibility for the Kabul mosque explosion, but it also bore hallmarks of the regional affiliate of the Islamic State group, known as Islamic State in Khorasan Province, or IS-K.

The IS affiliate, which has been operating in Afghanistan since 2014, is seen as the greatest security challenge facing the country's new Taliban rulers. The Taliban launched a massive crackdown against IS headquarters in eastern Afghanistan after they took over power in Kabul and elsewhere in the country last August.