7 dead as bomb goes off inside mosque

JALALABAD (PAN in eastern Nangarhar province, the Ministry of Interior said on Saturday.

In a statement, the ministry said the blast in Sherzad district took place on Friday night, when the militants were busy making bombs inside the mosque.

The blast occurred when their explosives went off accidently, killing seven of them, the statement added.

Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, the Nangarhar governor’s spokesman, confirmed the incident in Mamla area, saying civilians had suffered no casualties.

But the Taliban said seven civilians were killed in the mosque when foreign troops dropped bombs on them. They rejected the claim that any insurgent had been killed in the incident.

Elsewhere in the province, police detained two men and recovered 80 kilograms of hashish from their possession in Rodat district. Provincial police chief, Brig Gen. Fazal Ahmad Sherzad, said police had seized the drugs from a car.

mds/ma