At least four people, including a mullah, died in a Kabul mosque after a bomb planted before the start of Friday services detonated, an official said.
Eight more people were wounded in the blast, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior Affairs, Tariq Arian, said.
No group immediately took responsibility for the incident. The Ministry said it was yet another crime against the sacred places of Afghan people.
Friday’s blast had parallels to one earlier this month when an explosion tore apart a famous Kabul mosque and led to the death of renowned Afghan cleric Mawalawi Ayaz Naizi.
The attack took place as the Afghan government and the Taliban are preparing for planned peace talks.
An effort to release about 5,000 Taliban prisoners – a precondition for those talks – is nearly completed.
However, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, while speaking in an online event initiated by the U.S.-based Atlantic Council, said that threats of the terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda, Islamic State, and others would not end with peace with the Taliban.
Ghani stressed that a cooperating agreement to fight against terrorism would be necessary.
