Suicide bomber kills at least 100 at Shi'ite mosque in northern Afghanistan after string of ISIS-K attacks as country descends further into chaos in wake of US withdrawal

A suicide bomber has killed at least 100 at a Shi'ite mosque in northern Afghanistan after a string of ISIS-K attacks as the country descends further into chaos in the wake of the US withdrawal.   

Scores more victims from the minority community were wounded in the blast, which has not been claimed but appears designed to further destabilise Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover. 

The extremist Islamic State group, bitter rivals of the Taliban, has repeatedly targeted Shiites in a bid to stir up sectarian violence in Sunni-majority Afghanistan.   

The blast, which took place during Friday prayers, the most important of the week for Muslims, is the deadliest attack since the US withdrew and the Islamists took power at the end of August. 

A medical source at the Kunduz Provincial Hospital said that 35 dead and more than 50 wounded had been taken there, while a worker at a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) hospital reported 15 dead and scores more wounded.

An explosion at a mosque in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, on Friday that targeted Shiite Muslim worshippers has left at least 100 people killed or wounded

Blood spattered worshippers were seen carrying victims to waiting ambulances after the blast during Friday prayer

At least 100 were killed or wounded in the attack though a Taliban official said most had died

 Bloodstained debris is seen strewn across the floor of the Gozar-e-Sayed Abad Mosque in Kunduz following the bomb blast

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had earlier said an unknown number of people had been killed and injured when 'an explosion took place in a mosque of our Shiite compatriots' in Kunduz.

Residents of Kunduz, the capital of a province of the same name, said the blast hit a Shiite mosque during Friday prayers, the most important of the week for Muslims.

Zalmai Alokzai, a local businessman who rushed to Kunduz Provincial Hospital to check whether doctors needed blood donations, described horrific scenes.

'Ambulances were going back to the incident scene to carry the dead,' he said.

An international aid worker at the MSF hospital in the city told AFP there were fears the death toll could rise even further.

'Hundreds of people are gathered at the main gate of the hospital and crying for their relatives but armed Taliban guys are trying to prevent gatherings in case another explosion is planned,' he said. 

The Taliban have been targeted in a series of deadly IS attacks, including shooting ambushes and an explosion at a mosque in the capital of Kabul.

The explosion went off during the weekly Friday prayer service at the Gozar-e-Sayed Abad Mosque.  The Friday noon prayer is the highlight of the Muslim religious week, and mosques are typically crowded. 

'Felt like the end of the world': Afghan Shia mosque blast witness  The explosion went off during the weekly Friday prayer service at the Gozar-e-Sayed Abad Mosque in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan

Photos and video from the scene showed rescuers carrying a body wrapped in a blanket from the mosque to an ambulance

Photos and video from the scene showed rescuers carrying a body wrapped in a blanket from the mosque to an ambulance.   

Graphic images shared on social media, which could not immediately be verified, showed several bloodied bodies lying on the floor.

Pictures showed plumes of smoke rising into the air over Kunduz and the stairs at the entrance of the mosque was covered in blood. 

Another video showed men shepherding people, including women and children, away from the scene. Frightened crowds thronged the streets.

Aminullah, an eyewitness whose brother was at the mosque, told AFP: 'After I heard the explosion, I called my brother but he did not pick up.

'I walked towards the mosque and found my brother wounded and faint. We immediately took him to the MSF hospital.'

 Graphic images shared on social media, which could not immediately be verified, showed several bloodied bodies lying on the floor

Images showed bodies strewn across the mosque floor as people helped retrieve the dead

 The stairs at the entrance of the mosque were covered in blood following a bomb blast during Friday prayer The explosion went off during the weekly Friday prayer service at the Gozar-e-Sayed Abad Mosque in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan