20 feared dead in Afghan mosque blast

At least 20 people are feared dead after a powerful bomb exploded outside a mosque in western Afghanistan today.

Scores more were injured.

Maulvi Massood Mussa, a Sunni Muslim cleric, was killed in the explosion in Herat along with another Iranian believed by Taliban officials to be the bomber.

Mussa had been living in Herat for several years, reportedly since his mosque in Shiite Muslim Iran was burned down.

It was not clear whether Mussa was the target of the bombing.

Riots followed the bombing, resulting in attacks on the Iranian Consulate as well as on several Shiite Muslim mosques in the city, said the Taliban officials.

Most of Afghanistan’s 21 million people, including most Taliban, are Sunni Muslim and Iran has been nervous about sending diplomats since 1998, when several of their diplomats were killed following the Taliban takeover of the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

The Taliban officials said at least eight people were killed in Herat, but Iranian sources reached in neighbouring Pakistan said the death toll was at least 20.

Immediately after the explosion hundreds of people set fire to Shiite Muslim mosques in Herat and marched on the Iranian Consulate, destroying several vehicles.