Since Taliban fighters seized control of Afghanistan last year after ousting the US forces, the number of bombings has fallen. However, jihadist and Sunni IS continue with targeted attacks mostly against the Sufis.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted that children were among the 33 dead in the blast at a mosque in the northern province of Kunduz.

"We condemn this crime... and express our deepest sympathies to the bereaved," he said.

Images posted on social media, presumably of the blast, showed holes blown through the walls of the Mawlavi Sikandar mosque, popular with Sufis, situated north of Kunduz city.