Explosion Targets Radical Pro-Taliban Cleric in Herat
Local sources reported an explosion at a mosque in Gazargah area of Herat city. The target of the explosion was, reportedly, Mawlawi Mujib ur Rahman Ansari, Imam of Gazargah Mosque.
So far, conflicting reports have been published about the death of this Mawlawi. A source confirmed to Afghanistan International that Mawalwi Ansari's body was taken to the 600-bed hospital in Herat city.
Ansari was a loud critic of the previous government of Afghanistan and a supporter of the Taliban. Earlier in 2022, at a meeting of Taliban scholars in Kabul, he had said that "anyone standing against the current government [the Taliban government], should be beheaded".
At the Taliban’s Ulema gathering in Kabul, Ansari had declared his strong support for the Taliban.
Ansari was the Imam of Herat Gazargah Mosque. His sharp statements on the current affairs of Afghanistan and on Afghanistan’s sects were always in the news.
