A massive blast at a mosque in the northern Afghanistan killed 15 people including the provincial governor in the northern Afghanistan on Friday, officials said.
More than 20 people were wounded in the explosion during Friday prayers at the Shirkat mosque in the Takhar province, said Gen. Shah Jahan Noori, provincial police chief.
The governor of neighboring Kunduz province, Mohammad Omar, was killed in the blast, Noori said.
Takhar Gov. Abdul Jabar Taqwa said Omar was likely the target. "We believe a bomb was set up in the mosque to kill the governor," he told The Associated Press.
Northern Takhar has been the scene of escalating violence amid intensified military operations by NATO and Afghan forces in recent days.
Sixteen militants were killed in air raids and ground fighting overnight Wednesday in the Darqad, Yangi Qala and Khwaja Bahawuddin districts of Takhar, said Noori. More than a dozen insurgents were wounded.
Noori said his convoy was ambushed early Thursday and four attackers were killed in a gunbattle that lasted several hours. No joint force casualties occurred, he said.
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