Afghanistan: In a suicide strike that was claimed by the jihadist group, a top Taliban cleric Rahimullah Haqqani, known for his fiery lectures against ISIS was assassinated on Thursday at his madrassa in the Afghan capital.
At least two prior assassination attempts—including one in Pakistan in October 2020—were made against Rahimullah Haqqani, who lately made public statements in favour of allowing girls to attend school. According to Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran, “the madrassa of Sheikh Rahimullah was attacked today and as a result, he and one of his brothers were martyred,” adding that three people were hurt in the explosion. Only Rahimullah Haqqani had been killed, according to Zadran, and four other people had been hurt. Bilal Karimi, a government spokesman, announced his death “as an attack resorted by a cowardly opponent, “further he provided no other information.
ISIS claimed the attack hours later, claiming that the bomber had set off his explosive vest inside the cleric’s office. According to jihadist monitoring group SITE, which translated a statement from ISIS, Haqqani was one of the most “prominent advocates for the Taliban and among the strongest of them who incited to fight” ISIS.
According to Talibani sources, Haqqani was a notable person who had mentored many of the group’s members over the years despite having no official position. Numerous Taliban leaders posted their condolences on social media