Alwaght- At least six civilians were killed on Friday when a terrorist blew himself up near a Shiite mosque in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.
The explosion took place near a mosque in Qala-e-Fathullah area in Kabul at around 2pm local time, Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said in a post on social media.
As many as 19 others were wounded in the attack that came as Shiite Muslims had gathered for Muharram mourning ceremonies whose apex will be on Sunday which is marked as the Day of Ashura.
Police official Sadiq Muradi said police confronted the suicide bomber as he came through a checkpoint near the mosque, calling for him to stop. It was then when the attacker ignited his explosives, blowing himself up.
"The bomber was grazing a herd of sheep and before reaching his target he detonated himself 140 meters from the Mosque," General Salim Almas, Kabul's criminal investigative director said.
Najibullah Danish, interior ministry spokesman, said that all victims were civilians.
Kabul's Emergency Hospital tweeted that it had received 19 wounded, including four children.
ISIS terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack in a communique, the SITE monitoring group said.
Earlier, the Taliban had been quick to distance themselves from the bombing.
"Today's Kabul attack has nothing to do with us. After a thorough investigation we found out that we had no operation in Kabul, and this attack is not linked to us," Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said.
President Ashraf Ghani in a statement, released shortly after the incident, condemned the attack and called it against humanity and religion. He said such attacks will not affect the unity among Afghans. Ghani wished swift recovery to those wounded in the explosion.
The first ten days of Muharram, the month of the Islamic Hijri calendar, mark the martyrdom of the third Shiite Imam and the grandson of Prophet Mohammad SAW, Imam Hussein AS, in 680 AD in a battle with the tyrant of the time. The tenth day of Muharram, known as Ashura, marks the day when Imam Hussein was martyred with 72 of his loyal companions
