KABUL (Dispatches) -- A large explosion tore through a Shia mosque in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar martyring about 70 worshipers, the second week in a row that takfiri terrorists bombed Friday prayers.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday’s attack in Kandahar, but Daesh claimed the similar bombing that martyred scores of Shia Muslims in the northern city of Kunduz a week earlier.
The attacks have caused shock and terror among members of Afghanistan’s Shia minority and undermined the ruling Taliban movement’s claim to have restored security since taking control of the country in August.
Haji Sarwar Hazara, a local construction contractor who worships at the mosque and arrived soon after the blast, said there had been at least three attackers. One attacked security guards at the entrance, allowing two bombers to get into the mosque in the confusion.
“When I arrived at the mosque, I saw injured, dead bodies, and people who had fallen on top of each other,” he said, adding that he had seen the bodies of two attackers.
“I do not know who did this work, it is the enemy of Islam. But they cannot bring differences among Muslims,” he said.
Photographs and mobile phone footage posted by journalists on social media showed many people apparently dead or seriously wounded on the bloody floor of the Imam Bargah mosque.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said security forces had been ordered to capture the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
Daesh terrorists have repeatedly targeted Shias in the past with large-scale attacks intended to kill civilians, including one that martyred scores of schoolgirls in a Shia district of Kabul in May last year.
The Taliban consider Daesh their

enemy and have pledged to protect all ethnic and sectarian groups since sweeping into power in August as U.S. forces withdrew.
The embassy of Iran condemned the attack. “We hope Taliban leaders take decisive action against these wicked terrorist incidents,” it said in a tweet.
In Tehran, Iran’s Foreign Ministry ran condemned the inhuman crime and underlined the need for unity among Shia and Sunni Muslims to counter divisive plots by the enemies.
“The tragic incident and other sad events in the past, including the attack on worshipers in Kunduz, further highlight the need to adopt measures to protect Shia and Sunni religious centers and other gatherings in Afghanistan,” it said.
Meanwhile, Iran’s second flight carrying humanitarian air landed in Kunduz on Friday. Iran’s embassy in Kabul said the cargo included blankets, warm clothing and other cold-weather equipment.
More than 150 people were martyred in a ghastly attack at Gozar-e-Sayed Abad Mosque in the Khanabad area of Kunduz last Friday.
The UN mission in Afghanistan said those responsible should be held to account.
Taliban special forces arrived to secure the site and an appeal went out to residents to donate blood for the wounded.
The blast, coming so soon after the Kunduz attack, underlined uncertainty over security in Afghanistan as the Taliban grapple with an escalating economic and humanitarian crisis that threatens millions with hunger.
The local affiliate of Daesh, known as Daesh-K after has stepped up attacks following the Taliban victory over the Western-backed government in Kabul in August.
Taliban officials have played down the threat from Daesh, and dismissed suggestions they may accept U.S. help to fight the terrorist group.
Most Shia Muslims in Afghanistan belong to the Hazara ethnic group of Persian speakers, who have complained of persecution in the past.