Ariana News Agency-\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Police and local residents were searching for bodies in the rubble of a mosque in the eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, after bomb blaststhat killed at least 69 people during Friday prayers.<\/p>\n The explosives had been placed inside the mosque in the Jawdara area of Haska Mena district.<\/p>\n Sohrab Qaderi, a member of Nangarhar\u2019s provincial council, said the mosque, which can accommodate more than 150 worshippers, was full of people when the bombs exploded.<\/p>\n \u201cBodies of 69 people, including children and elders, have been handed to their relatives,\u201d Qaderi said, adding more bodies could be lying under the rubble.<\/p>\n On Friday, local officials had reported 62 fatalities and about 50 wounded.<\/p>\n No group has claimed responsibility but the government accused Taliban insurgents, who are fighting to reimpose strict Islamic law after they were ousted from power in 2001 by US-led forces, of the attack.<\/p>\n Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban, denied the group was responsible. In a tweet, he said witnesses said it was a mortar attack by government forces.<\/p>\n One of the wounded, Gulabistan, 45, said the mosque was full when the explosion happened.<\/p>\n \u201cMullah already started prayers and reciting verses of holy Qur\u2019an, when a huge boom happened, then all around me it got dark. The only thing I remember is females\u2019 voices and then I found myself in the hospital,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He said he had been told his son was among the dead while his brother and two nephews had been wounded and were in hospital.<\/p>\n A Reuters reporter saw 67 freshly excavated graves for the victims in Jawdara village.<\/p>\n The US ambassador, John Bass, said in a tweet that \u201ckilling worshippers assembled together in peace is unconscionable. All Afghans have the right to live and worship together in safety.\u201d<\/p>\n The European Union said the attack aimed to undermine hopes for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n Taliban and Islamic State fighters are actively operating in parts of Nangarhar, which shares a border with Pakistan in the east. The mosque attack was the latest act of violence in the country. A UN report this week said 4,313 civilians were killed and wounded in Afghanistan\u2019s war between July and September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" State blames Taliban for blasts targeting worshippers during Friday prayers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_mat_hreflang_tags":[],"addvideo":"","video_duration":"","farsit":"","target":"0","top_stories":"0","top":"1"},"categories":[11,2,7,12,9],"tags":[226,32],"class_list":["post-4248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accidents","category-afghanistan","category-politics","category-security","category-social","tag-afghanistan-war","tag-taliban"],"acf":{"myctype":"change","target":false,"top_stories":false,"top":true,"farsit":""},"yoast_head":"\n