Afghan volunteers carry victims at the scene of a motorcycle bomb explosion in front of the Jami Mosque in Herat on June 6, 2017.


A motorcycle bomb exploded near the Grand Mosque in the western city of Herat, killing seven people and wounding 16 according to the interior ministry. / AFP PHOTO / HOSHANG HASHIMI        (Photo credit should read HOSHANG HASHIMI/AFP/Getty Images)
Blast smoke engulfs Afghanistan mosque
00:33 - Source: CNN
Kabul, Afghanistan CNN  — 

At least seven civilians were killed and another 16 were injured Tuesday in an explosion in western Afghanistan.

The blast took place at about 3 p.m. near the northern gate of the Great Mosque of Herat, said Jilani Farhad, a spokesman for Herat’s governor.

Security officials inspect the scene of the blast outside the Great Mosque in Herat.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack. But Afghanistan is grappling with a wave of terrorism that has killed more than 150 in just the past week.

An enormous suicide blast ripped through Kabul’s diplomatic quarter on May 31– right in the middle of rush hour. At least 150 people were killed, President Ashraf Ghani said.

It was one of the deadliest attacks in the country since the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001, which was triggered by the US invasion is search of al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden after 9/11.

America’s longest war rages on

The Taliban denied involvement in the Kabul attack, but Afghan intelligence said in a statement they believe the Haqqani Network, a Pakistani group aligned with the Taliban, was behind it.

CNN’s Ben Westcott contributed to this report.