Blasts across Afghanistan kill at least 10, injure dozens

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A series of explosions across Afghanistan on Thursday killed at least 10 people and wounded scores more, according to police and hospital officials.

No one immediately took responsibility for the deadly explosions, but they mostly targeted the country’s minority Shiite Muslims and had all the hallmarks of a deadly Islamic State affiliate known as Islamic State in Khorasan Province, or IS-K.

The worst of the three attacks occurred in northern Mazar-e-Sharif where at least 10 worshippers were killed as they knelt in prayer, said Dr. Ghawsuddin Anwari, head of the main hospital in northern Mazar-e-Sharif. Another 40 were injured. They were brought in ambulances and private cars.

The explosion at the Sai Doken mosque in northern Mazar-e-Sharif occurred as Muslims mark the holy month of Ramadan, when the faithful fast from sunrise to sunset.

Earlier Thursday in the capital, Kabul, a roadside bomb exploded and injured two children. That bomb also targeted the country's minority Shiites, striking in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood of Kabul, dominated by Afghanistan's minority Shiite Muslims.

Two days earlier in the same area, multiple explosions targeting educational institutions killed at least six people, mostly children, and wounded 17 others.

A third explosion Thursday, this one in northern Kunduz province, struck a vehicle carrying mechanics contracted by the ruling Taliban, according to Matiullah Rohani, head of information and culture in Kunduz province.

Thursday's series of deadly explosions comes after months of relative calm in Afghanistan and after a crackdown against the IS-K by the country's Taliban rulers in the first months following their sweep to power.

The IS affiliate, which has been operating in Afghanistan since 2014, is seen...