Official: Death toll from mosque attack in Kabul reaches 28

Kabul: The number of people killed in an attack on a Shiite mosque in the Afghan capital during Friday prayers rose to at least 28 up from 20 including women and children, the chief of Kabul's hospitals said today. Mohammad Salim Rasouli said more than 50 others were wounded in the attack a day earlier that went on for hours. Two assailants blew themselves up and another two were shot to death by Afghan security forces, according to police official Mohammed Sadique Muradi.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest to target Afghanistan's minority Shiites. The Taliban condemned the violence, with a spokesman for the militants, Zabihullah Mujahid, telling The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the group had nothing to do with it. President Ashraf Ghani condemned the violence and said the militants were turning to attacking places of worship because they were losing on the battlefield. He urged Islamic clerics everywhere to condemn the bloodshed. Terrified worshippers endured about four harrowing hours of gunfire and explosions before the four attackers were killed.