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Taliban supporters and senior figures held their first mass rally near Kabul on Sunday, but their show of strength was overshadowed by a blast at the doorway of a mosque within the Afghan capital.
At least five civilians were killed within the blast, Qari Saeed Khosti, a Taliban Interior Ministry spokesman, said.
Mohammad Israil, a Kabul resident, said he heard the blast: “I heard a loud sound. All the people were deed .”
Initial reports indicate the explosion was caused by a roadside bomb. Three suspects are arrested, Bilal Karimi, Taliban official spokesman said. He added the investigation was ongoing.
No foreign government has yet recognised the Islamist former rebels’ rule, though their hold on power within the country is becoming stronger, seven weeks after they took the capital.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had said on Saturday that a prayer ceremony would be held at the mosque for his mother following her recent death. He made no regard to this on Sunday as he tweeted that the blast had killed civilians within the area.
Civilians in bloodied clothing were seen arriving at the nearby Kabul Emergency Hospital, and Khosti said.
Taliban fighters arriving at the hospital handed over their weapons and stripped off their body armor to travel in to donate blood, and therefore the hospital said on Twitter that four patients were being treated.
The blast, which might be heard across the centre of the capital, came shortly after the new Taliban “interim government” staged a rally just outside the capital, from which they were driven call at 2001 during a U.S.-led operation launched after the 9/11 attacks.
The pro-Taliban rally in Kohdaman township within the hilly outskirts of Kabul was attended by 1,500 men and boys.
