Daily Times

Gazargah mosque Bomb Blast: 18 Killed. Bomb Blast in Gazargah mosque in Herat, western Afghanistan during Friday prayers,  Pro-Taliban cleric Mujibur Rahman Al-Ansari was killed. At least 18 people were killed and 23 wounded in Friday’s blast.

Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed Mujib ur Rahman Ansari, the imam of the mosque, was among the dead.

“A strong and courageous religious scholar of this country embraces martyrdom in a brutal attack,” he said on Twitter.

Ansari was an influential cleric known for his fiery speeches. In July, during a religious gathering in Kabul, he strongly defended Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers. Ansari is the second pro-Taliban cleric to be killed in a blast in less than a month after an earlier suicide attack targeted Rahimullah Haqqani at his madrassa in Kabul.

Mujib Rahman Ansari had spoken strongly in defense of the Taliban at a large gathering of thousands of scholars and elders organized by the group in late June, condemning anyone who stood against their administration.

Al Jazeera Media Network, citing unnamed sources, said 14 people had been killed.

The Taliban say they have improved security in the country since taking power around a year ago. However, there have been several blasts in recent months, some of them targeting busy mosques during prayers. The United Nations has raised concerns about the growing number of attacks and some blasts have been claimed by a local branch of Daesh.

Several mosques across the country have been targeted this year, some in attacks claimed by IS. The was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday’s explosion.