Blast hits a mosque in vicinity of interior ministry, killing 4

An explosion hit a mosque in Afghanistan’s capital near the interior ministry compound on Wednesday, killing four people and wounding 25, a ministry spokesman said.

The government did not immediately say what caused the blast in Kabul.

“The mosque was used by visitors and sometimes by interior ministry employees,” said interior ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor, who confirmed the casualty toll.

Meanwhile Kabul Emergency hospital, said on Twitter that it had received 20 patients from the blast, two of whom were dead on arrival.

“We have received 20 wounded people so far, all adult males, of whom 16 were admitted, 2 were dead on arrival and 2 were treated as outpatients,” said Acting Country Director Dejan Panic.

The interior ministry compound is next to Kabul international airport.

A blast at an education center in West Kabul on Friday killed 53 people, most of them young women, according to the United Nations Mission to Afghanistan.