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Blast Rocks Afghan Mosque, Kills 17
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Kabul police chief General Akram Khakraizwall was among the dead. (Reuters)
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, June 1, 2005 (IslamOnline.net
& News Agencies) – At least 17 people were killed and several
others injured on Wednesday, June, 1, when a powerful explosion ripped
through a mosque in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
The police chief of the capital Kabul, General
Akram Khakraizwall, was among the dead, Interior Ministry spokesman
Lutfullah Mashal told Agence France Presse (AFP).
"Thirty-six people have also been
wounded. It was a suicide attack by the enemies of Afghanistan and
Islam. The investigation into the case has started," he added.
The explosion occurred when a self-bomber in a
police uniform blew himself up among a crowd of mourners gathering in
the Maulvi Abdul Rab mosque to pay respects an anti-Taliban scholar.
"A man in military uniform approached
Khakraizwall and detonated the bomb which killed Khakraizwall, his
bodyguards and people around him," an Afghan intelligence
official said.
"There were some 50 to 60 people inside
the mosque when the explosion occurred. This was a very big explosion
and there is blood everywhere in the mosque and outside it," an
AFP correspondent said.
"Human limbs are scattered all over the
mosque compound."
The attack was the worst in Afghanistan this
year and one of the most serious since the ouster of Taliban by US-led
forced more than three and half years ago.
Washington is currently leading 18,000 US-led
troops in the country, including about 16,000 Americans.
Funeral
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Fayyaz, a close supporter of President Karzai, was gunned down Sunday while leaving his office.
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The explosion occurred inside the mosque in
the center of the city, during the funeral of Mawlavi Abdullah Fayaz,
who was gunned down Sunday, May 29, by two gunmen riding a motorcycle
as he was leaving his office.
Fayaz, a close supporter of US-backed
President Hamid Karzai, served as the head of the Islamic scholar's
council, a government-appointed body, and criticized Taliban leader
Mullah Mohammad Omar at a recent gathering.
A Taliban spokesman, however, said he knew
nothing about the blast as none of his men had contacted him about it.
Kandahar has been hit by previous bombings,
including twin roadside blasts on March 17 that killed five people and
wounded more than 30 during a visit of US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice to the country.
On Monday, May 30, up to 16 militants and four
police officers were killed in a series of attacks in southern
Afghanistan.
More than 18,000 US-led troops, including
about 16,000 Americans, remain in the Muslim country since they
toppled the Taliban regime more than three and half years ago.
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