By Ehsan Popalzai
AFGHANISTAN — (CNN) A suicide bomb attack in the Afghan capital of Kabul has killed at least 27 people.
More than 35 others were injured when the bomber detonated their vest inside a mosque in the sixth police district of Kabul, according to Basir Mujahid, spokesman for the local police force.
Mujahid told CNN that children and women were among the victims.
The attack took place at 12:10 p.m. (2:40 a.m. ET) after a suicide attacker entered Shia mosque Baqir ul-Uloom as religious worshipers gathered to mark the Shia ceremony of Arbaeen, which comes 40 days after the major festival of Ashura.
Ashura commemorates the martyrdom of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad who was killed in the year 680 AD.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid has denied the group is responsible for Monday’s attack.
Spate of attacks
Last week, a suicide attack near the Defense Ministry in Kabul killed four people and wounded 11, the latest in a series of attacks which have come around the 15th anniversary of the US “war on terror.”
On November 11, four Americans were killed in an attack at Bagram Airfield.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for that strike, praising the “strong attack” on Bagram Airfield in a tweet.
In a statement, Mujahid said a suicide bomber had targeted “a sports ground where more than 100 military officers, important people and soldiers were busy exercising.”
In the same week, a suicide attack targeting the German consulate in northern Balkh province killed four others.
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