Muslim Council of Elders condemns Kabul attack

ABU DHABI: The Muslim Council of Elders, under the Chairmanship of the Grand Imam of Al Azhar His Eminence Dr Ahmed Al Tayeb, strongly condemned the terrorist atack targeting Friday prayer worshippers in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The Council called for intensified international efforts towards rooting out and combating extremist ideology and terrorism.

The Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Elders, Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam said, “The Muslim Council of Elders stands in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan in their difficult batle against terrorism, which contravenes the teachings of all religions as well international laws and norms.”

On Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MOFAIC) affirmed the UAE’S strong denunciation of such criminal acts, and its permanent rejection of all forms of violence and terrorism that aim to destabilise security and undermine stability in contravention of all humanitarian values and principles.

MOFAIC expressed its sincere condolences and sympathy to the people of Afghanistan, and to the families of the victims of this heinous crime, and its wishes for a speedy recovery for all of the injured.

The blast hit the Khalifa Sahib Mosque in the west of the capital in the early aternoon, said Besmullah Habib, deputy spokesman for the interior ministry.

Sayed Fazil Agha, the head of the mosque, said someone they believed was a suicide bomber joined them in the ceremony and detonated explosives.

The United States and the United Nations’ mission to Afghanistan condemned the atack, with the later saying it was part of an uptick in violence in recent weeks targeting minorities and adding that at least two UN staff members and their families were in the mosque at the time of the atack.

“No words are strong enough to condemn this despicable act,” said Mete Knudsen, the UN secretary general’s deputy special representative for Afghanistan.

On Saturday, a bomb blast in a passenger van in Kabul on Saturday killed at least one person, officials said, in the second explosion in the Afghan capital in two days.

“One woman was killed and three more injured,” Khalid Zadran, a spokesman for Kabul’s commander, said.

One witness to the passenger van blast, Ali Maisam, 19, who was waiting outside a nearby bakery at the time, said he saw a number of bodies.

“I saw people coming out of the minibus with bloody and burnt faces. I saw that four bodies were taken out and a woman was among the dead,” he said.

Noone has claimed responsibility for the blast.