Eighteen Afghans were killed and dozens were wounded as a blast ripped through a mosque in Afghanistan’s western Herat province, the latest in a series of attacks on worshipers.
The explosion went off as one of the people at the mosque stepped forward to greet pro-Taliban cleric, Mujib Rahman Ansari, before the Friday prayers, Mahmoud Shah Rassouli, a police spokesman for the province, said by phone. A spokesman for Herat’s governor, Hameedullah Motawakel, confirmed the death toll and the number of casualties in a separate text message to reporters.
It’s not yet clear who’s behind the blast. The Taliban condemned the attack in a Twitter post, saying Ansari was killed in a “cowardly” manner and they’re looking into the case. The cleric strongly supported Taliban rule, saying in an event in Kabul in July that whoever stood against them must be “beheaded.”
