Afghanistan mosque attack toll rises to 62: official

Witnesses said the roof of the mosque had fallen through after the "loud" explosion.

JALALABAD (AFP) - The death toll from an attack on a mosque in Afghanistan during Friday prayers has risen to 62, authorities in the eastern Nangarhar province said.

The toll "has risen to 62 dead and 33 injured," said a spokesman for the local governor. The Taliban have condemned the attack and blamed it on the Islamic State group.

The explosion, which witnesses said collapsed the mosque s roof, took place in eastern Nangarhar province and wounded at least 55 people, provincial governor spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP.

He said the dead were "all worshippers" at the mosque in Haska Mina district, roughly 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the provincial capital Jalalabad.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Both the Taliban and the Islamic State group are active in Nangarhar province.

Witnesses said the roof of the mosque had fallen through after the "loud" explosion, the nature of which was not immediately clear.

Some 350 worshippers were inside at the time, Omar Ghorzang, a local resident, told AFP.

"Dozens of people were killed and wounded and were taken in several ambulances," Haji Amanat Khan, a 65-year-old local resident, told AFP.

The blast came after the UN released a new report on Thursday saying an "unprecedented" number of civilians were killed or wounded in Afghanistan from July to September.

The report, which also charts violence throughout 2019 so far, underscores how "Afghans have been exposed to extreme levels of violence for many years" despite promises by all sides to "prevent and mitigate harm to civilians".

It also noted the absurdity of the ever-increasing price paid by civilians given the widespread belief that the war in Afghanistan cannot be won by either side.

"Civilian casualties are totally unacceptable," said the UN s special representative in Afghanistan, Tadamichi Yamamoto, adding they demonstrate the importance of talks leading to a ceasefire and a permanent political settlement.

The figures -- 1,174 deaths and 3,139 injured from July 1 until September 30 -- represent a 42 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

The UN laid most of the blame for the spike at the feet of "anti-government elements" such as the Taliban, who have been carrying out a bloody insurgency in Afghanistan for more than 18 years.

July alone saw more casualties than in any other month on record since the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) began documenting the violence in 2009.

The first six months of 2019 had seen casualties drop slightly compared to previous years. But the violence has surged so far in the third quarter that it yanked the overall total for the year back on par with the bloodiest since NATO withdrew its combat forces at the end of 2014.