18 Killed, 23 Injured in Bomb Blast Outside a Mosque

**kellyhound** · #1 ● 09-03-2022, 07:19 AM

An explosion at a mosque in the city of Herat in western Afghanistan killed a high-profile pro-Taliban scholar as well as more than a dozen civilians.

Videos showed what appeared to be blood-stained bodies scattered around the mosque compound. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Eighteen people were martyred in the incident and 23 others were wounded, a spokesman for the governor of Herat province, told.

The blast went off in the Guzargah Mosque during Friday noon prayers.

“[Imam] M. R. A. with some of his guards and civilians have been killed on their way toward the mosque,” said police. “One of the suicide bombers blew himself up while kissing his hands.”

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the perpetrators behind the bombing would be punished.

M.R.A. had spoken strongly in defence of the Taliban at a large gathering of thousands of scholars and elders organised by the group in late June, condemning anyone who stood against its administration.

He is the second pro-Taliban scholar killed in an explosion in less than a month, after Rahimullah Haqqani died in a suicide attack at his madrassa in Kabul. Haqqani was known for angry speeches against the armed group ISIL (ISIS), which later claimed responsibility for his death.