Kabul , Afghanistan ( CNN ) -- An anti-insurgent provincial governor who had survived Taliban assassination attempts was among 20 people who died Friday in an explosion at a northern Afghan mosque during prayers , a government official said . The blast in Afghanistan 's Takhar province killed Kunduz provincial governor Mohammad Omar , who recently sounded an alarm about the threat of insurgents during an interview with CNN . The bombing also wounded 35 others , with most of those killed and injured engaged in prayer , said Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zamarai Bashari . `` It is a terrible incident , '' said Bashari , who said police were trying to find out more details about the strike and who is responsible . The NATO-led command condemned the attack , saying that `` it 's unconscionable that anyone would attack a mosque . '' `` It 's clear the insurgents have no respect for the most holy of Islamic places , '' said U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Greg Smith , spokesman for NATO 's International Security Assistance Force , or ISAF . The U.S. Embassy in Kabul deplored the act , saying `` whoever was responsible '' for striking a house of worship `` has demonstrated a clear lack of disregard for the Afghan people and for the peaceful religion they practice . '' The mosque was bloodied and its roof was shattered , eyewitness Mujib Rahman said , but there were different early accounts on how the strike was carried out . Gen. Daoud Daoud , commander of the Afghan Interior Ministry 's northern zone , said a suicide attacker apparently sitting next to the governor detonated a bomb . Faiz Mohammad Powhidi , a Takhar governor spokesman , told CNN that a pre-placed mine exploded . He explained that governor had been visiting his family and attending Friday prayers weekly in his native province of Takhar , which borders Kunduz . Omar , who was a Pashtun , had survived several assassination attempts by the Taliban , and his brother was slain a few months ago . He told CNN on Sunday that for the last two years , the security situation has deteriorated in Kunduz because insurgents decided to destabilize northern Afghanistan , which , until recently , had been relatively stable during the nine-year-old Afghan conflict . The Takhar blast and the Thursday killing of a German soldier in the north illustrates a growing unrest that contrasts with the first years after the Taliban 's collapse in 2001 . In those days , the north was much more secure than the predominantly ethnic Pashtun south and east of the country . Omar told CNN that the insurgents were trying to use Kunduz as a launchpad to destabilize northern Afghanistan and the wider Central Asian region and lamented the lack of police available to battle insurgents . `` Currently 40 percent of Kunduz province is under Taliban control , '' he said . German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle conveyed his regrets to the Afghan government in a letter . `` Yesterday we suffered the death of a Bundeswehr soldier , '' he said . `` Today the news reaches us of another attack in which the governor of Kunduz , Mohammad Omar , was killed . I wanted to express my condolences on the part of the federal government . '' Other violence rippled across the country on Friday . Three coalition soldiers in southern Afghanistan were killed : one in an insurgent attack and two others in improvised explosive device attacks . NATO does not give the nationalities of service members who are killed , but the British Defence Ministry said one of its soldiers was killed in Helmand province in the south Friday . NATO-led forces killed five armed men in eastern Afghanistan 's Khost province . The command is investigating allegations of civilian casualties in the latter incident , ISAF said .
NEW : U.S. Navy , Kunduz condemn attack . The slain U.S. Germans governor previously survived assassination attempts . The mosque is bloodied and its roof is shattered . 35 are dead and 20 are wounded from the attack .