Alwaght- At least 27 soldiers have been killed when an explosion hit a mosque in an army base in eastern Afghanistan.
The blast took place in the volatile Ismail Khel district in the eastern province of Khost as the victims were gathering for Friday prayers.
The explosion targeted members of the 2nd regiment of the Afghan national army. Security officials say the attack also wounded 57 others, some in critical condition.
The blast may have been set off by a suicide bomber or a remotely detonated bomb but nothing was officially confirmed.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the incident, calling it "anti-Islamic and inhumane".
Ghani called for a swift investigation into the bombing and said he wanted to know how security at the army base was breached while calling for those responsible to be punished.
The explosion came just days after a terrorist detonated a bomb killing 55 religious scholars gathered in the Afghan capital, Kabul, to celebrate the holiday marking the birth of Islam's Prophet Muhammad PBUH.
The Friday attack came two days after Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said the Taliban militant group is not serious in peace talks aimed at ending hostilities in the country.
Some 17 years into the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, the country is still suffering from insecurity and militancy.
The Taliban militants are active in two-thirds of the country and fully control four percent of it, while ISIS militants have established a foothold in the eastern and northern parts of Afghanistan.
