Al-Jazeera correspondent quoted a government source as saying that the number of people killed in the bombing that targeted a Shiite mosque in the center of Kandahar city (southern Afghanistan) has risen to 41, in addition to 80 wounded, while the Taliban movement - which controls power - rejected statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he said that "Terrorists from Iraq and Syria gather in Afghanistan".

Al-Jazeera correspondent Nasser Shedeed quoted one of the sources as saying that 3 suicide bombers blew themselves up inside the mosque, and no party claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Ambulances were seen rushing to the site of the explosion to treat the wounded and transport the victims.

This mosque is the largest mosque for the Shiite community in Kandahar, and it is the first bombing that occurs in this city, which is a stronghold of the Taliban movement, and where 5% of Shiites live.

state organization

No party has claimed responsibility for this bombing, but the reporter indicated that it bears the hallmarks of the Islamic State-Khorasan Province.

The Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the bombing of a mosque for the Shiite Hazaras - last Friday - in the Khanabad district of Kunduz province (northern Afghanistan), in which 60 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded.

No party has claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Shiite mosque in Kandahar, but Al-Jazeera correspondent in Kabul indicated that it bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State-Khorasan Province.

Kandahar police chief Mawlawi Mahmoud said, "A large number of our countrymen were killed today, on the blessed Friday, as a result of a brutal attack on a Shiite mosque." From now on the Taliban will take charge of protecting him.

"We are facing a lot of pressure. There are many dead bodies and many wounded have been taken to hospital, and we expect more to arrive. We urgently need blood. We have asked all the media in Kandahar to ask people to come and donate blood," a doctor told AFP.

A spokesman for the political office of the Taliban, Muhammad Naeem, said that the attack on the Shiite mosque in Kandahar was heartbreaking, and that people were behind it who embraced extremist ideas, adding that the perpetrators would not be able to achieve their goals, adding that the Taliban "will not allow any citizen to be harmed and all our citizens have the right to practice their worship."

Afghanistan recently witnessed a number of attacks and bombings, most of which were claimed by the Islamic State, including an attack on a party hall in the city of Akjah ​​(in the northern province of Jowzjan), with an explosion that killed a bride and wounded 5 others.


Taliban and Putin

On the other hand, the Taliban rejected the statements of the Russian president on Thursday, in which he said that "terrorists from Iraq and Syria are gathering in Afghanistan, and they can destabilize the situation in the Organization of the Commonwealth of Independent States", which are neighboring countries of Afghanistan, which was within the Soviet Union.

Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman for the Taliban, told Anadolu Agency that there is no data to support President Putin's claim, adding that ISIS "has no possibility to transfer fighters from Middle Eastern countries to Afghanistan."

Karimi added that it is very difficult to come to Afghanistan from these countries, and they are unlikely to come, pointing out that the Taliban controls all parts of the country, and there is no point under the control of any group, stressing that there is no place for ISIS among the Afghan people.

President Putin said at the CIS countries summit on Thursday that his country's data indicate that there are about two thousand ISIS fighters in northern Afghanistan, and that they are "working to increase the organization's influence in Central Asian countries and the Russian regions."

President Putin had said at the summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which was held remotely, that his country's data indicate that there are about two thousand fighters affiliated with the Islamic State in northern Afghanistan, and "they are working to increase the influence of the organization in the countries of Central Asia and the Russian regions."

Afghan Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaki accused the international community of violating the rights of the Afghan people due to its failure to recognize the caretaker government, and said that not recognizing the new government is unfair. Mottaki added that the government formed by the Taliban has met all the criteria to be recognized internationally.

It is noteworthy that the Taliban took control of almost all of Afghanistan on August 15, paralleling a final stage of a US military withdrawal that was completed at the end of the same month.