Suicide bomber hits meeting of Afghan religious figures condemning terrorism, killing 14

Source: Washington Post

By Sayed Salahuddin
June 4 at 8:36 AM

KABUL — A suicide bomber killed 14 people Monday in Kabul outside a large gathering of Afghanistan’s top religious figures that had just condemned suicide attacks as violations of Islam.

The attack occurred near the main entrance of a large tented compound in the Afghan capital, where about 2,000 Muslim clerics had gathered to deliberate on the current war and attacks by the Taliban and the Islamic State, which are battling the Afghan government as well as U.S. and allied troops.

The group, called the Afghan Ulema Council, issued an unprecedented religious edict earlier in the day that declared the insurgency in Afghanistan as being without religious basis. It also proclaimed that suicide attacks, often used by Taliban and Islamic State insurgents, are “haram,” or contrary to Islamic teachings.

Police said seven of the victims were clerics who had been invited from various parts of Afghanistan by President Ashraf Ghani’s government, which has been seeking ways to make peace with the Taliban with the strong support of the U.S. government and Western donors.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/suicide-bomber-hits-meeting-of-afghan-religious-figures-condemning-terrorism-killing-14/2018/06/04/00c2b53e-67d9-11e8-bea7-c8eb28bc52b1_story.html