Two separate attacks targeting members of Afghanistan's Shi'ite minority during the ceremonies to commemorate Ashura have left several dozen people dead and scores wounded.
Associated Press reports a bomb targeting Shiite worshippers in northern Afghanistan killed at least 14 civilians on Wednesday.
Regional police spokesman Sarwar Hussaini said 26 others were wounded in the attack, which targeted the group as they were leaving a mosque following ceremonies to commemorate Ashura, a major religious observance for Shiites.
Munir Ahmad Farhad, spokesman for the governor of Balkh province, said the bomb appeared to have been remotely detonated.
The attack came less than 24 hours after the Islamic State (IS) extremist group claimed responsibility for an attack on a shrine in Kabul.
Meanwhile, the death toll from a Tuesday night attack on Kabul's biggest Shiite shrine rose to 17 people, including a policeman.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said another 62 people, including 12 policemen, were wounded in that attack. There were three women and two children among the dead, and 26 women and three small children among those wounded, he said, according to Associated Press.
Radio Liberty reports that the IS group, via its Aamaq media outlet, said an IS “commando” had opened fire on mourners in Kabul before blowing himself up using an explosive jacket.
Shia Muslims make up about 15% of Afghanistan's population, and many of them come from the Hazara ethnic group.
Shia Muslims across the world are mourning the 7th century death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Husayn.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan condemned both attacks. “These attacks on worshippers are truly abhorrent” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan. “The extremists behind this emerging pattern of sectarian violence will not succeed in reversing Afghan traditions of religious and ethnic tolerance.”
The United States strongly condemned the Kabul and the Balkh assaults as “cowardly attacks … clearly designed to stoke sectarian tension in Afghanistan,” according to a statement by Ned Price, spokesman for the National Security Council.
