A large explosion hit a mosque in Kabul during evening prayers on Wednesday, witnesses and police said, killing or injuring many.
Police said there were multiple victims but did not say how many. A Taliban intelligence official told Reuters that up to 35 people may have been injured or killed, and the number could rise further. Al Jazeera quoted an unidentified official as giving a death toll of 20.
Kabul Emergency Hospital said on Twitter that they had received 27 patients injured in the blast, including a seven-year-old boy.
Witnesses told Reuters the powerful explosion was heard in a neighborhood in northern Kabul, shattering windows in nearby buildings. Ambulances have been dispatched to the scene.
“There was an explosion inside a mosque … the explosion has casualties, but the numbers are still unclear,” Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran told Reuters.
The Taliban intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the blast occurred at a mosque among worshipers in the Khair Khana area of Kabul.
The imam of the mosque was among the dead and the number could still rise, the source added. Intelligence teams were at the blast site and investigations were ongoing.
Other Taliban government officials did not respond to multiple requests to confirm the death toll.