MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd September, 2022) At least 20 worshippers were killed in a blast that ripped through a mosque in northwestern Afghanistan during Friday prayers, Afghan media reported.
The Guzargah mosque in Herat was bombed at around 12:40 p.m. (8:10 GMT), Khamaa Press reported, citing authorities run by the Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorism).
A source in the province told Sputnik that seven people had lost their lives.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Mawlawi Mujib Rahman Ansari, the cleric who led the prayers, was killed in what he described as a cowardly attack carried out by the "enemies of religion."
Mujahid said the Taliban would punish those responsible. He did not blame any particular group but the Taliban have been fighting the Islamic State-Khorasan terror group (banned in Russia), which has been targeting religious gatherings and patrols.
Khamaa Press reported that the slain cleric was a hardliner who advocated for beheading rebels, stoning adulterers and shopping off hands of thieves. Mujahid praised him as a courageous religious scholar.
