Pro-Taliban imam among the dozens dead and wounded in a suicide attack on the Guzargah Mosque in western Herat city. A blast outside a mosque in the city of Herat in western Afghanistan on Friday killed a high-profile pro-Taliban cleric as well as civilians, police said.
“Eighteen people were martyred in the incident and 23 others were wounded.” Hameedullah Motawakel, a spokesman for the governor of Herat province, told reporters.
The blast went off in the Guzargah Mosque during Friday noon prayers.
“[Imam] Mujib Rahman Ansari with some of his guards and civilians have been killed on their way toward the mosque,” said Herat’s police spokesman Mahmoud Rasooli. “One of the suicide bombers blew himself up while kissing his hands.”
Rasoli did not say how many casualties the blast caused. Reports said the militant Islamic State’s Khorasan branch (IS-K) has taken responsibility for the blast. Al Jazeera Media Network, citing unnamed sources, said 14 people had been killed.
Mujib Rahman Ansari had spoken strongly in defense of the Taliban at a large gathering of thousands of scholars and elders organized by the group in late June, condemning anyone who stood against their administration.
The Taliban say they have improved security in the country since taking power around a year ago, but there have been several blasts in recent months, some of them targeting busy mosques during prayers.
According to an Afghan journalist, a ‘high’ number of casualties was caused by the explosion.
Video — After the explosion in Gezargah mosque in Herat.
The casualties of this explosion are very high.
Mujib Rahman Ansari a radical cleric close to Taliban was also reported killed in this explosion.#Herat #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/WTMy2HOsja
— Mohammad Natiq | محمد ناطق (@natiqmalikzada) September 2, 2022
Afghan news agency TOLOnews said that Ansari was killed at the Guzargah mosque where he was the imam. No official statements have been made by the incumbent Taliban government.
Local sources said a blast occurred in Guzargah mosque in Herat province and Mawlawi Mujeeb Rahman Ansari, the imam of the mosque, was killed. There have been no official statements yet. pic.twitter.com/yNKQqjlIFq
— TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) September 2, 2022
Afghan journalist and political analyst Lutfullah Lutf said. This is not the first time that a religious scholar has been a target of an attack.
“In the last few years, any religious scholar who has enjoyed support across Afghanistan … or supported the government … [is] the potential target of such attacks,” Lutf told Al Jazeera.
Previous mosque attacks have been claimed by ISIL, which has carried out a series of assaults against religious and ethnic minorities in Afghanistan, as well as Taliban targets.
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