Officials from the Taliban say that an investigation is underway after Rahimullah Haiqani was killed in a blast at a seminary.
Officials from Taliban have confirmed that Sheikh Rahimullah Haqani, a prominent Taliban religious leader, was killed in a bombing attack on a Kabul seminary.
“Very sadly informed that respected cleric [Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani] was martyred in a cowardly attack by enemies,” said Bilal Karimi, a spokesperson for the Taliban administration, on Thursday.
The attack was claimed to be by the ISIL (ISIS), an armed group.
Four Taliban sources were cited by Reuters as saying that the attacker was someone who had lost a leg before and had hidden explosives inside a plastic artificial leg.
“We are investigating who this … person was and who had brought him to this important place to enter the personal office of Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani. It’s a very huge loss for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” said a senior Taliban official of the interior ministry, referring to the group’s name for its administration.
Later, ISIL claimed responsibility later on Thursday for the attack on its television channels. It said that the bomber had detonated explosives inside the office of the scholar.
Haqqani was one of the most “prominent advocates for the Taliban and one of the biggest of them who incited to fight” ISIL, the monitoring group SITE said, translating a statement from ISIL.
Haqqani was a prominent scholar within the Taliban. He had survived several attacks, including a large blast in Peshawar (northern Pakistan) in 2020 claimed and claimed by ISIL. At least seven people were killed.
Many Taliban officials took to social networking to offer their condolences.
“You have fulfilled your responsibility. Destiny cannot be prevented, but the Muslim community has been orphaned,” tweeted Mobin Khan, a former spokesman for the Kabul police.
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Taliban government fell to an invasion led by the USA. The Taliban claim that they have restored security since coming back to power one year ago.
In recent months, however, there have been regular attacks by armed group, many of which were claimed by an ISIL affiliate known to be the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISIS-K).
In recent months, the group has been increasing its attacks on mosques and other minorities in Afghanistan. Two people were killed and two others were injured in an attack on a Kabul Sikh temple.
The ISIL affiliate, which has been operating in Afghanistan since 2014, is seen as the greatest security challenge facing the country’s Taliban government.
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