At least 18 people, including a pro-Taliban imam, were killed and many more injured in a suicide attack on the Guzarga mosque in the western city of Herat.
An explosion at a mosque in the western Afghan city of Herat has killed a prominent pro-Taliban scholar and more than a dozen civilians.
Images posted on social media on Friday showed what appeared to be blood-soaked corpses littered the mosque grounds.
“Eighteen people were martyred and 23 injured in the incident,” Hameedullah Motawakel, a spokesman for the governor of Herat province, told reporters.
An explosion occurred at the Guzarga Mosque during Friday noon prayers.
“Mujib Rahman Ansari, his guards and civilians were killed en route to the mosque,” said Herat police spokesman Mahmoud Rasuri. “One of his suicide bombers blew himself up while kissing his hand.”
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the perpetrators behind the bombings will be punished.
Mujahid tweeted: “A strong and brave religious scholar of our country has been martyred in a brutal attack.
dead and wounded
Taliban official Abdul Nafi Thakor confirmed Friday’s blast and said there were casualties, but said he had no further details.
Mujib Rahman Ansari has spoken out strongly in defense of the Taliban and denounced those who oppose the regime at a large gathering of thousands of academics and elders organized by the Taliban in late June.
Ansari is the second pro-Taliban scholar to die in an explosion less than a month after Rahimura Haqqani died in a suicide attack at his madrasah in Kabul. Haqqani was known for his angry speeches against the militant group ISIL (ISIS), who later claimed responsibility for his death.
The Taliban say security has improved in the country since coming to power about a year ago, but there have been several explosions in recent months, some of which have targeted crowded mosques during prayers. rice field.
Previous mosque attacks have been claimed by ISIL, which has carried out a series of attacks against religious and ethnic minorities in Afghanistan, as well as targets of the Taliban.
The Herat Mosque attracts followers of Afghanistan’s dominant stream of Sunni Islam, followed by the Taliban.
ISIL launched several suicide attacks during Friday prayers, with a focus on targeting Shiite Muslims.
