At least 16 people died as a result of explosions in Afghan cities.

At least 16 people were murdered in two Afghan towns on Thursday as a result of bomb attacks. According to the Islamic State (IS), 12 people were counted at a Shiite mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif.

The number of bombings in Afghanistan has decreased since the Taliban regained dominance in August, but the jihadist and Sunni IS organization has claimed a large number of them because they are often directed at Shiite targets.

On social media, gruesome photographs of victims being brought to medical facilities from the Seh Dokan mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif have been shared.

“Blood and terror are everywhere,” said Ahmad Zia Zindani, a spokesman for the Balkh province public health department, adding that “people were shouting” while looking for information.

He claimed the blast killed 12 individuals and injured 58 others, with 32 of them in critical condition.

“Victims’ relatives were flocking to city hospitals in search of their loved ones.”Many residents came to donate blood as well,” Zindani said.

At least four people were killed and 18 others were injured in a blast in Kunduz, which police official Obaidullah Abedi claimed AFP was caused by a bicycle bomb targeting a truck transporting Taliban mechanics.

The Shiite Hazara population in Afghanistan, which accounts for 10 to 20% of the country’s 38 million people, has long been a target of the Islamic State, which considers them heretics.

“The caliphate’s warriors were able to get a booby-trapped bag” into the mosque and detonate it.