Mosque blast kills 12 in eastern Afghanistan

Kabul: Authorities in eastern Afghanistan say explosives transported by suspected Taliban militants accidentally detonated while they were stopped at a mosque, killing 12 people.

Local official Qasim Desewal on Saturday said that four civilians and eight militants died in the blast during evening prayers the night before in Ghazni province`s district of Andar. He said that the Taliban had apparently stopped at the mosque while traveling and the explosives they were carrying went off while they were inside. The Ghazni explosion was on the same day as Taliban fighters supported by a suicide car bomb attacked a compound for international aid workers in the capital. Kabul police today raised the siege death toll from two to four, including a 6-year-old child, two compound guards and one policeman. PTI