Talibani lufaafay are now attacking Ulema. Yet we don’t hear a peep from Pak Mullahs.
BBC NEWS
Karzai condemns killing of cleric
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has strongly condemned the killing of a leading Muslim cleric in a bomb attack on a mosque in south-east Afghanistan.
Police blamed the Taleban for killing pro-government cleric, Mullah Maulvi Ahmed Khan, on Friday in Tani district, 25km (18 miles) south of Khost.
Mr Karzai said the attack was an “affront to the ideals of Islam”.
More than 1,200 people have been killed in violence linked to militancy in Afghanistan this year.
‘Respected scholar’
Mullah Khan, a member of the powerful pro-government provincial clerics’ council, the ulema, was about to lead afternoon prayers when the remote controlled device was detonated.
Sixteen other people were hurt.
Mr Karzai said in a statement: "I am deeply disturbed by this crime, which is an attack on Islam and on the ulemas… Maulvi Ahmed Khan was a person devoted to Islam and at the service of the Afghan people.
“There is no greater affront to the ideals of Islam then killing a respected scholar in a place of worship.”
No-one has yet said they carried out the attack.
The Taleban were blamed for attacks on pro-government clerics in the summer which left four dead.
Two clerics in Kandahar and one each in Helmand and Paktika were killed.
On 1 June in Kandahar, 20 people were killed and 40 injured when a suicide bomber targeted a mosque where mourners had gathered for a service for murdered cleric Mawlavi Abdullah Fayaz, who was killed by gunmen earlier in the week.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2005/10/15 08:09:22 GMT