8 KILLED IN AFGHAN SUICIDE ATTACK
A motorcycle suicide bomber killed at least eight people near a gathering of Muslim clerics in the Afghan capital after they had issued a fatwa against suicide bombings, officials said, in the latest in a series of attacks to hit Kabul.
The bomb exploded at the entrance to a giant tent, near residential buildings in the west of Kabul, after most of the clerics had left, a witness said. Women living nearby were crying as they gathered with their families.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which underlines deteriorating security ahead of parliamentary and district council elections set for October 20.
The Taliban, fighting to restore strict Islamic rule after their 2001 ouster at the hands of US-led troops, denied involvement.
More than 2,000 religious scholars from across the country began meeting on Sunday at the Loya Jirga (Grand Council) tent, denouncing years of conflict. They issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, outlawing suicide bombings and demanding that Taliban militants restore peace to allow foreign troops to leave.
Najib Danish, spokesman for the interior ministry, said the fatalities included one policeman. Two policemen were wounded, he added. Public health ministry spokesman Wahid Majroh said the 20 wounded were taken to different hospitals, hence the full toll was not immediately known.
Less than an hour before the attack happened, Ghofranullah Murad, a member of the council, read out a written statement from the gathering saying that innocent Afghan men, women and children are the true victims of the 17-year-long war.
“The ongoing war in Afghanistan is illegal and has no root in Sharia (Islamic) law,” the statement said. “It is illegal according to Islamic laws and it does nothing but shed the blood of Muslims.” “We the religious Ulema call on the Taliban to respond positively to the peace offer of the Afghan government in order to prevent further bloodshed in the country,” it added.
The fatwa also said that killing people by any means — such as bombs and suicide attacks — as well as violent acts, including robbery and kidnapping, count as sins in Islam.
Elsewhere in Kabul, three civilians, including a woman, were wounded when a sticky bomb attached to their car went off in the Koti Sangi area on Monday, said Hashmat Stanekzai, spokesman for the Kabul police chief.