The 2019 Kabul mosque bombing occurred around 01:20pm (08:50 GMT) on 24 May 2019 when worshippers and the

imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, se ...

were inside the

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a Place of worship, place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers (sujud) ...

for

Friday prayer In Islam, Friday prayer or Congregational prayer ( ar, صَلَاة ٱلْجُمُعَة, ') is a prayer (''ṣalāt'') that Muslims hold every Friday, after noon instead of the Zuhr prayer. Muslims ordinarily pray five times each day accordin ...

. The explosives were placed in the mosque's microphone which was used by the imam. At least three people were killed, including the imam, Samiullah Rayhan, and nearly 20 people were injured. So far, no group or individual has claimed to be responsible for the attack.

Incident

A bombing attack happened in Al-Taqwa mosque in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Ac ...

, around 01:20pm (08:50 GMT), and killed or injured dozens of worshippers who came for Friday prayer. Two people, including a

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or research ...

, Samiullah Rayhan, were killed and at least 16 wounded after a bomb explosion. Although the Taliban regularly stages attacks in the area, Nasrat Rahimi, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs said, the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pas ...

is responsible for the attack. A spokesman for the

’s group denied Rahimi's claim. After Taliban’s new leader appointment, Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, the number of attack to religious person increased. A district

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest a ...

official, Jan Agha, said the bomb was fixed in the mosque microphone which was used by the mosque imam, Mawlawi Samiullah Raihan. Samiullah Rayhan, 36, a father of four children, was an imam at Al-Taqwa mosque. He was a parliamentary adviser and the host of a daily religious television show. His support for the families of fallen Afghan soldiers, condemnation of the Taliban’s

suicide bomb A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout history ...

ings,

women’s rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

, and cooperation between Western military forces and the Afghan government were the main reasons for being targeted in the attack. Firdaws Faramarz, a police spokesman said, the bomb explosion happened near the altar of the Al-Taqwa mosque, a place used by the mosque leader to initiate the prayers. According to the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, Afghanistan's situation is difficult for religious scholars because supporting either the government or the Taliban lead to being targeted by the other.

Reactions

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

Ashraf Ghani Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai (born 19 May 1949) is an Afghan politician, academic, and economist who served as the president of Afghanistan from September 2014 until August 2021, when his government was overthrown by the Taliban. Born in ...

condemned the mosque attack as a

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

act.

References

Mosque bombing 2019 murders in Afghanistan 2019 mosque bombing 21st-century mass murder in Afghanistan 2019 mosque bombing Mosque bombings in Afghanistan Attacks on religious buildings and structures in Afghanistan Improvised explosive device bombings in 2019 2019 mosque 2019 mosque bombing Islamic terrorist incidents in 2019 May 2019 crimes in Asia May 2019 events in Afghanistan Terrorist incidents in Afghanistan in 2019 Terrorist incidents by unknown perpetrators {{Portal bar, Afghanistan, Asia, War

Incident

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See also

References