A bomb tore through a mosque in Afghanistan's northeastern Kunduz province on Friday, killing and wounding more than 100 people, a UN agency said.
"Initial information indicates more than 100 people killed and injured in a suicide blast inside the mosque," the United Nations' mission to Afghanistan said in a tweet.
No group immediately claimed responsibility. The blast followed several attacks, including one at a mosque in Kabul, in recent weeks, some of which have been claimed by the IS terror group.
One Taliban official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said at least 28 people had been killed and dozens more wounded in Friday's blast.
The attacks have underscored security challenges for the Taliban, which took over the country in August and have since carried out operations against the IS cells in Kabul.
"This afternoon, an explosion took place in a mosque ... as a result of which a number of our compatriots were martyred and wounded," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter.
The US naval blockade of Iran is just an example of 'polite' behaviour during the ongoing ceasefire and US forces are ready to strike Iran's power plants and energy industry if ordered, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said on Thursday.
Speakers of the legislative councils of the Gulf Cooperation Council have stressed the importance of adopting a unified Gulf position and working toward resolutions at the Inter-Parliamentary Union condemning recent Iranian attacks on GCC states.
Optimism grew on Thursday that the Iran war may be near an end, with a key Pakistani mediator having made a breakthrough on "sticky issues", a source said, although Iran warned the fate of its nuclear programme had not been resolved.
Pope Leo blasted leaders who spend billions on wars and said the world was "being ravaged by a handful of tyrants", in unusually forceful remarks in Cameroon on Thursday after US President Donald Trump attacked him again on social media.