Pakistan strongly condemns terrorist attack in Herat

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has strongly condemned the terrorist attack on Guzargah Mosque in Herat on Friday which killed at least eighteen people including a religious cleric.

The Foreign Office issued a statement strongly condemning the heinous terrorist attack on Guzargah Mosque in Herat in which many precious lives of innocent people have been lost with several injuries.

“The Government and people of Pakistan extend deepest sympathies and sincere condolences to the bereaved families, and pray for the early recovery of those injured,” said the statement.

Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. The people of Pakistan stand with their Afghan brothers and sisters in this time of sorrow and grief, it added.

According to media report, an explosion at a mosque in the city of Herat in western Afghanistan killed a high-profile pro-Taliban cleric as well as more than a dozen civilians.

The blast went off in the Guzargah Mosque during Friday noon prayers. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Hameedullah Motawakel, spokesman for the governor of Herat province, told reporters that eighteen people were martyred in the incident and 23 others were wounded.

Herat’s police spokesman Mahmoud Rasooli said Mujib Rahman Ansari has been killed on their way toward the mosque with some of his guards and civilians. He said 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. Mujib Rahman Ansari had strongly defended the Taliban at a large gathering of thousands of scholars and elders organised in late June, condemning anyone who stood against its administration.

Ansari 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 his speeches against the ISIS, which later claimed responsibility for his death.