Some witnesses described hearing a second explosion about 10 minutes after the first.

There has been little history of religious conflict between local Shiites and Sunnis, but the Islamic State has previously stated its intent to divide Afghan Muslim sects.Ībdul Ahad Walizada, a spokesman for the Herat police, described the incident as 'a terroristic attack that killed more than 20 of our countrymen while they were praying.' He said he did not know the motive. Tuesday's attack, however, was the first such assault on a Shiite mosque in Herat, a gateway to the Afghan border with Iran and a historic center of Shiite faith among the Hazara ethnic community. Afterward, there were reports that Islamic State officials warned Shiites in Afghanistan that they would be targeted. The embassy had celebrated the recapture of the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State fighters last month. The Herat attack followed a terrorist assault Monday on the embassy of Iraq in Kabul in which two assailants were killed after a five-hour gunbattle with police. A number of previous suicide attacks on mosques in Afghanistan, including one that killed 30 people last November, have been claimed by a regional affiliate of the Islamic State, an extremist Sunni militia. A security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said later that 29 people had died and 64 were injured.Ī spokesman for the Taliban, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, said the group had no hand in the attack. At least 20 people were initially reported killed, and scores were wounded.

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