By NOOR KHAN, Associated Press Writer
3 minutes ago
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A suicide bomb tore through a mosque in southern
AfghanistanWednesday at the funeral of a Muslim cleric who spoke out against the Taliban, killing at least 20 people, including Kabul's police chief, and wounding dozens, officials said.
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The attack — which came on the heels of a major upsurge in rebel violence in recent months including assassinations, almost daily clashes with rebels and the kidnapping of an Italian aid worker — further raised fears that militants here are copying the tactics of insurgents in
Iraq.
Suicide bombings, a tactic commonly used by insurgents in Iraq, have been rare in Afghanistan.
The rebels themselves have suffered a heavy price — losing about 200 men according to American and Afghan officials — but the drumbeat of attacks has belied U.S. claims that it is stabilizing the country, nearly four years after driving the Taliban from power.
Hundreds of mourners were crowded inside the Mullah Abdul Fayaz Mosque in the center of the main southern city of Kandahar when the bomb went off around 9 a.m., leaving blood and body parts littered over a wide area.
Interior Ministry spokesman Latfullah Mashal said the capital's police commander, Gen. Akram Khakrezwal, was killed along with some other police officers attending the funeral. Mashal said it was a suicide bombing.
Witnesses described the carnage:
"I was knocked unconscious by the blast. When I woke up, so many people were killed or wounded. People were running around, some were lying on the ground crying. Dead bodies were everywhere," said Nanai Agha, a mourner who was inside the mosque but survived the blast because he was behind a wall when the bomb detonated.
Kandahar's deputy police chief, Gen. Salim Khan, said the explosion occurred near where people remove their shoes before praying.
Nazir Ahmadzai, a doctor at Kandahar Hospital, said 20 people had been killed and 45 wounded — many of them Khakrezwal's bodyguards.
The hospital's director, however, said 72 were wounded, four gravely.
"The wounded are telling me that a suicide attacker entered the mosque and then blew himself up," said hospital chief Mohammed Hashim Alokozai.
Mashal, the Interior Ministry spokesman, denounced the attack as an atrocity against both the nation and Islam.
"They are the enemies of peace and the enemies of Islam," he said. "Attacking Muslims while they are offering prayers and performing religious ceremonies is completely against Islam, against our country."
Col. James Yonts, the U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan, also condemned the blast, saying in a statement that it was an "atrocious act of violence upon innocent civilians and a mosque."
Many local leaders had been expected to attend the funeral of Mullah Abdul Fayaz, the top Muslim leader in the province, whom the mosque is named after.
Fayaz, a supporter of President Hamid Karzai, was shot dead in Kandahar on Sunday by suspected Taliban gunmen — a week after he led a call for people not to support the rebels.
Even before the blast, security was tight. Afterward, more police were deployed around the mosque, the main city hospital and other sites around the city.
A purported Taliban spokesman, Mullah Latif Hakimi, said in a telephone call to The Associated Press that the rebels were not responsible for the bombing. Hakimi often calls news organizations to claim responsibility for attacks on behalf of the Taliban, though his information has sometimes proven untrue or exaggerated. His exact tie to the rebel leadership is not clear.
The British Broadcasting Corp. reported that it received a call from a man claiming to be a Taliban member who said the group was responsible for the attack. It did not identify the caller or say if the report had been verified.
Kandahar was a stronghold of the Taliban regime that was ousted from power in late 2001 by U.S.-led forces for harboring al-Qaida leader
Osama bin Laden.
In a second attack Wednesday west of Kandahar, a bomb exploded on a bridge as a group of Afghan deminers were driving over it, killing two of them and wounding five others, said Patrick Fruchet, spokesman for the U.N. Mine Action Center for Afghanistan.
The seven were working on a project funded by the Japanese government, he said.
Kandahar has been hit by big bombings before.
On March 17, a roadside blast killed five people and injured more than 30. Authorities blamed anti-government rebels for the attack.
In January 2004, a bomb attached to a bicycle killed at least 15 people, most of them children, and injured dozens more in the city. Authorities blamed Taliban militants.
I don't understand why they targeted a mosque. There is no way that this attack was performed by a redical Islamic group. This must have been done by mercenaries or something, there is no way that a radical islamic group would bomb a mosque.
He is right no a real Muslim would not attack a mosque because it would be like the worst thing that they could do.
As for what is going on I seem to remeber lots of people saying that eventually it would all go tits up in Afghanastan and it looks like they were right it would appear that all control has been lost by those who are meant to have it and I also believe that we will be seeing more attacks like they have in Iraq. Insatbility is there goal and they are very good at achieving these goals.
Radical islamists say they are the real muslims and everybody else is infidels and enemies, including moderate muslims. Blowing up inside a mosque doesnt look that insane after attacks on funerals, beheadings, kidnappings, mass murder, and other "freedom fighting" done by radical islamists.
Also you dont think radical islamists are real muslims, do you? They claim they are, though.... Maybe they are right, as sordidmesh and devildog have repeatedly pointed out?
I dont think they are real Muslims in fact I heard a middle east expert saying they follow Sellaphy which is a skewed version of the Muslim faith. Also a real Muslim would not destroy a mosque that is a simple fact and nothing is going to change that fact also it is strictly agianst the Muslim faith to commit suicide for any reasons ( bet Sordid nevr told ya that) and as for Sordid that giy is othing but a little hate filled bigot who has an agenda and if you take everything he says as gospel you are simply pandering to his filth.
But are we talking about yet another Muslim hate thread ( which is becoming alrmingly common on this site) or are we talking about what has gone serioulsy wrong in Afghanastan?
I know that its against Islam to commit suicide just like killing anybody, especially another muslim, but radical islamists have done both in the past, so what's stopping them from blowing up a mosque?
But you don't see what I am saying if they did blow up this mosque then surely that stops them being real muslims. It would be the same if a Christian blew up a church I would not consdier that person a true Christian.
What I do think is that we have got terrorists using the Muslim faith as some sort of weird justification for thier actions. Any true Muslim would find thier actions disgusting.
Well then let the 'real' Muslims come out in droves and denounce them if the 'real' Muslims are so offended by these murderers who are 'fakes.' Instead, the 'real' Muslims burn American flags. That really helps them. Morons! OK, then! Who cares if they are 'real' or 'fake' Muslims! They are murderers who kill in the name of Islam. We don't care what they call themselves. We'll be happy to arrange for their romantic meeting with the 72 virgins.
Lodgebo blowing up a mosque surely makes them sinners and not real muslims, just like killing anybody.
What you are saying is killing other muslims in Iraq somehow doesnt make them as bad as if they actually blew up a mosque. To me, there is no difference.
This is what I am saying these idiots are murderers does not matter if it's a mosque or a person. but the fact remains that in Islamic faith the Mosque is one of the holiest places and destroying it is unforgiveable ( why do you think the US and UK air forces did thier upmost to avoid mosques in the shock and awe campign), killing a perosn is wrong very wrong in any faith but the mosque is worse but only ever so slghtly worse. You have to remeber that it is diffrent in Afghnastan where relgion is the most important thing
Like I said I do not bleieve these guys are actual muslims but more likely following the Salffi teachings just like thier leader OBL probably does, the Salfis seek to purify modern Islam and promote interpretations of Salfi teaching.
Curley Joe said this in post #9 : Well then let the 'real' Muslims come out in droves and denounce them if the 'real' Muslims are so offended by these murderers who are 'fakes.'
Muslims have done this, they have come out and said that these people do not represent our faith and this is a skewed perception of our faith.
06-01-2005 11:52 AM
