Prominent scholar died in Kabul mosque bomb blast, President Ghani condemns

KABUL - A prominent religious scholar, a Kabul university lecturer and a worshiper were killed and two people were wounded after a bomb blast hit a mosque in central Kabul Tuesday, in the latest bombing in a string of such attacks in the city.

The incident occurred minutes after the evening praying ended and worshipers left the Wazir Akbar Khan mosque roughly at 7:25 pm in so-called Green Zone, a police officer told Xinhua at the site in Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood where the cluster of embassies located.

"Mohammad Ayaz Niazi, who had doctorate degree in Islamic studies, was walking from main mosque building toward an adjunct building inside the complex where he lives with his family but an improvised explosive device planted outside the ablution room detonated," the officer told Xinhua anonymously.

One person who was taking ablution also killed and two persons accompanying Niazi were wounded.

The force of the explosion also damaged the mosque and two adjuncts buildings and a bomb disposal team also found and defused another improvised bomb at the site of the blast after the incident, the source noted.

Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani strongly condemned the attack on Niazi who served as the imam of the mosque for many years.

"Targeting mosques, places of worship, hospitals, public facilities and sinless civilians is crime against humanity," Ghani said in a statement reaching Xinhua on Wednesday.

"The president offered his profound sympathies to the family of Dr. Mohammad Ayaz Niazi and ordered a thorough investigation into the incident. He instructed the relevant officials to use all available resources for providing treatment to the wounded," the statement added.

Unofficial source said eight people were wounded in the attack and several wounded people were in critical condition.

Over the past years, the capital city with a population of nearly 5 million has been hit by series of terror attacks by the Taliban insurgents and militants of the Islamic State (IS) opposing the government.

On Saturday, one journalist and a driver were killed and six people wounded after militants of Islamic State targeted a local TV channel's bus by a roadside bomb near a traffic circle in Kabul.

The latest terrorist attack by extremists against the scholars has also drawn wide condemnation by all walks of life.

More than 500 civilians were killed and 760 others wounded due to fighting in Afghanistan in the first three months of 2020, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) announced on late April.

UNAMA has attributed 55 percent of civilian casualties to the Taliban and other insurgent groups, 32 percent to security forces over the period while the rest 13 percent were caused by other reasons.