33 killed in bombing at mosque and religious school in Afghanistan

Kabul, Apr 22: A Taliban official says a bombing at a mosque and religious school in northern Afghanistan on Friday killed at least 33 people, including students of a religious school.

Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted news of the devastating bombing in the town of Imam Saheb, in Kunduz Province, saying it also wounded another 43 people, many of them students.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but Afghanistan's Islamic State affiliate on Thursday claimed a series of bombings, the worst of which was an attack on a Shiite mosque in northern Mazar-e-Sharif that killed at least 10 Shiite Muslim worshippers and wounded scores more.

An Islamic State affiliate on Friday claimed a series of bombings a day earlier that targeted Afghanistan's minority Shiite Muslims, while Pakistan issued a warning of IS threats in its eastern Punjab province.

The deadliest of the three bombings on Thursday exploded inside a Shite mosque in northern Mazar-e-Sharif. Hospital officials say at least 12 people were killed and as many as 40 were hurt.

Earlier Thursday, a roadside bomb exploded near a boys school in the Afghan capital of Kabul, injuring two children in the city's predominately Shiite neighbourhood of Dasht-e-Barchi.

A third bomb in northern Kunduz injured 11 mechanics working for the country's Taliban rulers. Since sweeping to power last August, the Taliban have been battling the upstart Islamic State affiliate known as Islamic State in Khorasan Province or IS-K which is proving to be an intractable security challenge for Afghanistan's religiously driven government.

Last November the Taliban's intelligence unit carried out sweeping attacks on suspected IS-K hideouts in eastern Nangarhar province.