<p>A suicide bomber killed at least 30 people inside a Shi'ite mosque in the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday night, a security official said, and a separate bombing killed at least another 20 at a mosque in the middle of the country.<br /><br />The Kabul bombing is the latest in a string of violent attacks on the country's Shi'ite minority. The attack occurred at Imam Zaman mosque in the western Dasht-e-Barchi part of Kabul as Shi'ite worshippers gathered for prayers.<br /><br />A senior security official said the exact number of casualties was unknown but that security forces at the scene had removed at least 30 bodies.<br /><br />Afghanistan's Shi'ite population has been heavily hit this year, with at least 84 people killed and 194 wounded in attacks on their mosques and religious ceremonies, according to a United Nations report released last week.<br /><br />Among those were at least two attacks on mosques in Kabul in August and September.<br /><br />A separate attack on a mosque in the central province of Ghor was also reported on Friday.<br /><br />Iqbal Nezami, a spokesman for the Ghor provincial police, said at least 20 people were killed in the bombing that appeared to target a local leader.<br /><br />The targeted official was a top local political and military leader of the Jamiat political party in Ghor, and was killed along with as many as 30 other worshippers, according to a statement from Balkh provincial governor Atta Mohammad Noor, a leading figure in Jamiat.<br /><br />There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack.</p>
<p>A suicide bomber killed at least 30 people inside a Shi'ite mosque in the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday night, a security official said, and a separate bombing killed at least another 20 at a mosque in the middle of the country.<br /><br />The Kabul bombing is the latest in a string of violent attacks on the country's Shi'ite minority. The attack occurred at Imam Zaman mosque in the western Dasht-e-Barchi part of Kabul as Shi'ite worshippers gathered for prayers.<br /><br />A senior security official said the exact number of casualties was unknown but that security forces at the scene had removed at least 30 bodies.<br /><br />Afghanistan's Shi'ite population has been heavily hit this year, with at least 84 people killed and 194 wounded in attacks on their mosques and religious ceremonies, according to a United Nations report released last week.<br /><br />Among those were at least two attacks on mosques in Kabul in August and September.<br /><br />A separate attack on a mosque in the central province of Ghor was also reported on Friday.<br /><br />Iqbal Nezami, a spokesman for the Ghor provincial police, said at least 20 people were killed in the bombing that appeared to target a local leader.<br /><br />The targeted official was a top local political and military leader of the Jamiat political party in Ghor, and was killed along with as many as 30 other worshippers, according to a statement from Balkh provincial governor Atta Mohammad Noor, a leading figure in Jamiat.<br /><br />There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack.</p>