TEHRAN – The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh late on Friday strongly condemned a terrorist suicide bomb attack on a mosque in the Afghan city of Kunduz, sympathizing with the bereaved families and prayed for the recovery of the injured.

Khatibzadeh said terrorist acts in any form by anybody is deplorable.

The bomb attack has killed at least 50 people, BBC quoted officials as saying. It was the deadliest assault since U.S. forces left the country.

Bodies were seen scattered inside the Said Abad mosque, used by the minority Shia Muslim community.

More than 100 people were injured in the blast in the northern city.

The Islamic State group said it was behind the attack.

IS-K, the Afghan regional affiliate of the IS group that is violently opposed to the governing Taliban, has carried out several bombings recently, largely in the east of the country.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid called the attack a “crime”.

Zalmai Alokzai, a local businessman who rushed to a hospital to check whether doctors needed blood donations, described seeing chaotic scenes after the attack during Friday prayers.

Local security officials were quoted by Tolo News as saying that more than 300 people were attending the prayers when the attack happened.

The United Nations said Friday's bombing was a "third deadly attack this week apparently targeting a religious institution" and was part of a "disturbing pattern of violence".

The attack underlined the mounting challenges facing the Taliban as they grapple to adapt to government and prevent a complete collapse of Afghanistan's war-battered economy, with millions threatened by famine as winter approaches, Reuters said.