ISIS Claims Responsibility for Kabul Mosque Attack

Security forces inspect the site of a suicide attack outside a mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Sept. 29, 2017. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini)
Security forces inspect the site of a suicide attack outside a mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Sept. 29, 2017. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini)
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ISIS Claims Responsibility for Kabul Mosque Attack

Security forces inspect the site of a suicide attack outside a mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Sept. 29, 2017. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini)
Security forces inspect the site of a suicide attack outside a mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Sept. 29, 2017. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini)

ISIS claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a mosque in the Afghan capital as officials on Saturday raised the number of casualties from the attack to at least 39 dead, including children, and at least 41 wounded.

In a statement on its website late Friday, the extremist organization claimed a militant "detonated his explosive vest" during Friday prayers in the Shi’ite Imam Zaman mosque in western Kabul.

The attack was one of two on mosques in the country.

A suicide bombing in western Ghor province struck a Sunni mosque, also during Friday prayers, killing at least 33 people, said Mohammad Iqbal Nizami, spokesman for the provincial chief of police.

The Interior Ministry released a statement Saturday saying it was investigating the attack in Kabul's Dashte-e-Barchi neighborhood. It said the assailant blew himself up as worshipers began their prayers.

The attack on the Sunni mosque took place in the Do Laina district of Ghor province, according to Mohammad Iqbal Nizami, the spokesman for the provincial chief of police. He said the target apparently was a local commander, Abdul Ahed, a former warlord who has sided with the government. Seven of his bodyguards were also killed in the bombing. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

This week has been one of the bloodiest in Afghanistan in recent memory, with more than 70 killed, mostly security forces and Afghan soldiers but also civilians as militant attacks have surged.

The Taliban have taken responsibility for the earlier assaults this week that struck security installations in the east and west of the country.



US Aware of Reported Death of American after Beating by Israeli Settlers

Israeli soldiers stand guard as Israeli settlers tour in the old city-center and market of the Palestinian city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on June 28, 2025. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP)
Israeli soldiers stand guard as Israeli settlers tour in the old city-center and market of the Palestinian city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on June 28, 2025. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP)
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US Aware of Reported Death of American after Beating by Israeli Settlers

Israeli soldiers stand guard as Israeli settlers tour in the old city-center and market of the Palestinian city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on June 28, 2025. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP)
Israeli soldiers stand guard as Israeli settlers tour in the old city-center and market of the Palestinian city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on June 28, 2025. (Photo by HAZEM BADER / AFP)

The US State Department said on Friday it was aware of the reported death of a US citizen in the Israeli-occupied West Bank after reports emerged of Israeli settlers fatally beating a Palestinian American.

Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing the local health ministry, said Saif al-Din Kamel Abdul Karim Musallat, aged in his 20s, died after he was beaten by Israeli settlers on Friday evening in an attack that also injured many people in a town north of Ramallah.

Relatives of Musallat, who was from Tampa, Florida, were also quoted by the Washington Post as saying he was beaten to death by Israeli settlers.

"We are aware of reports of the death of a US citizen in the West Bank," a State Department spokesperson said, adding the department had no further comment "out of respect for the privacy of the family and loved ones" of the reported victim.

The Israeli military said Israel was probing the incident in the town of Sinjil. It said rocks were hurled at Israelis near Sinjil and that "a violent confrontation developed in the area", reported Reuters.

Israel has expanded and consolidated settlements in the West Bank as part of the steady integration of these territories into the state of Israel in breach of international law, the UN human rights office said in March.

Settler violence in the West Bank, including incursions into occupied territory and raids, has intensified since the start of Israel's war in Gaza in late 2023.

Israel's military offensive has killed over 57,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza's health ministry, and led to accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice and of war crimes at the International Criminal Court. Israel denies the accusations and says it is fighting in self-defense after the October 2023 Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.

Israeli killings of US citizens in the West Bank in recent years include those of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, Palestinian American teenager Omar Mohammad Rabea and Turkish American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi.

The United Nations' highest court said last year Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there were illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible.