At least 30 Taliban militants were killed in an explosion at a mosque in Balkh province.
Over 30 Taliban fighters were gathered inside a mosque when an explosion occurred.
Afghan news agency Khaama Press reported that the militants were learning how to make bombs and IEDs when the blast happened. The class was being held on Saturday inside a mosque in the village of Qultaq in the Dowlatabad district of Balkh province. Among the dead were six foreign nationals who, according to a statement by the 209th Shaheen Corps, were expert mine makers. The statement further explained that due to the strength of the blast, the foreign nationals could not be identified.
This is not the first time that a bomb-making class turned into a blast site.
According to The Defense Post, inadvertent detonations have occurred on numerous occasions during training. In April 2020, four Taliban militants were reportedly killed while learning how to make a bomb in Ghazni province. Similarly, a month later, a bomb allegedly exploded in a house in the southern province of Zabul, killing three Taliban fighters and destroying the building completely. The Defense Post further reported that in August 2020, four more militants died in Balkh while making explosives
