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Suicide blast kills Afghan district head

A suicide bomber has killed an Afghan district governor and seven other people at a mosque in the country's north.

Afghan men injured in a suicide bomb blast receive treatment
A suicide bomber has killed a local district governor and seven others in northern Afghanistan. (AAP)

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Source: AAP


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A suicide bomber has blown himself up at a mosque in northern Afghanistan, killing the local district governor, a policeman and at least six other worshippers, officials say.

The blast erupted in the middle of a crowd gathered outside the mosque building after a funeral prayer session on Friday for a tribal elder.

"The bomber targeted Sheikh Sadruddin, the district governor of Archi, this morning in the yard of a mosque while he was attending a prayer ceremony," Sayed Sarwar Husseini, spokesman for Kunduz province, said.

"We can confirm that Sadruddin was killed."

District police chief Hamid Agha said that six civilians and one policeman were killed and 25 other people were wounded, some of them critically.

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Northern Afghanistan is relatively peaceful compared with the south and east, but Kunduz province has often been the scene of explosions, targeted killings and other insurgent unrest in recent years.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which occurred in a district close to the border with Tajikistan.

Taliban militants have launched a spate of attacks in recent days, with more than 30 people killed on Wednesday in separate strikes, including 15 policemen shot in an ambush in the western province of Farah.


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