According to authorities, Taliban troops have apprehended a suspected Islamic State militant who allegedly plotted a bomb attack on a Shiite mosque in Afghanistan, killing at least 12 worshippers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IS has claimed responsibility for the bombing that ripped through the Seh Dokan mosque in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Thursday during noon prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
58 individuals were also hurt in the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asif Waziri, the police spokesman for Balkh province, claimed Abdul Hamid Sangaryar was a key IS operative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Waziri told AFP, “He was the mastermind of yesterday’s mosque attack.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sangaryar, an Afghan national, was also arrested, according to the country’s interior minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“He had previously played a crucial role in various attacks and had frequently eluded capture, but this time we arrested him in a special operation,” Waziri said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IS also claimed responsibility for a separate bombing in the northern city of Kunduz on Thursday, which killed four people and injured 18 others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While worshippers celebrated Friday prayers in the holy month of Ramadan, Taliban authorities ramped up security around Kabul’s biggest mosques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hundreds of worshippers arriving at the capital’s Abdul Rahman mosque were subjected to body inspections by gun-toting Taliban gunmen, according to an AFP correspondent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even as the number of bombings has decreased since the Taliban gained power in August, IS has claimed responsibility for numerous strikes in Afghanistan, often against Shiite targets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
According to authorities, Taliban troops have apprehended a suspected Islamic State militant who allegedly plotted<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":15020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[215],"tags":[350],"class_list":["post-15019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","tag-taliban"],"yoast_head":"\n