Health sources say that 19 people were killed and 20 were injured in a suicide attack on Friday in Herat city.
The Taliban say that the target of the attack, which took place around noon near the courtyard of the Gozargah Mosque in the east of the city, was Mawlana Mujib Rahman Ansari, a controversial pro-Taliban Herati mullah.
The Taliban police statement says that Ansari was killed when he was going to the mosque to perform Friday prayers: “A suicide bomber blew himself up while kissing his hands.”
A source at Herat Provincial Hospital told Zan Times on the condition of anonymity that 19 dead and 20 wounded were transferred to the hospital.
According to him, three of the wounded are in critical condition and they are in comas while the others admitted to hospital required blood transfusions.
Noor Ahmad Islamjar, Herat’s Taliban governor, said in a video tape that they will take revenge for the killing of Ansari.
Some sources have told Zan Times that Taliban Deputy Prime Minister Ghani Baradar was also in Herat, and that Ansari and a group of Herati mullahs had met with him at the provincial administration building before the incident.
Mujibur Rahman Ansari was a controversial pro-Taliban mullah. In a gathering of Taliban mullahs in Kabul, Anasari called for beheading those who oppose the Taliban rule.
Even before the Taliban regained power, Ansari had formed his own group of propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice in Herat. Ansari’s group arrested and interrogated people and promoted strict dress codes for women. Ansari was also known for promoting bigotry against religious minorities.
Ansari is the fourth pro-Taliban mullah killed in the last two months. A few weeks ago, Rahimullah Haqqani, another prominent Taliban mullah, was killed in a suicide attack in Kabul.
So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the Herat attack.
