Suicide blast targets religious gathering in Kabul

Afghan firefightera wash the road at the site of a suicide attack in the gates of Kabul's Polytechnic University in Kabul on June 4, 2018. (AFP / Ahmad Zafar)

Afghan policemen stand guard near the site of a suicide attack at the gates of Kabul's Polytechnic University in Kabul on June 4, 2018. (AFP / Ahmad Zafar)

Security personnel attend to the site of a deadly suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, on June 4, 2018. (AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini)

• Police suspect Daesh, but no group has yet claimed responsibility.
• Afghan clerics issued a religious decree describing suicide attacks as un-Islamic.

KABUL: A suicide attack on Monday targeted a key religious gathering in Kabul in which clerics described such attacks as un-Islamic.

The suicide bomber, apparently on foot, blew himself up at the main entrance of the site as the clerics were leaving the gathering. Several of them were among those killed.

The Taliban, which routinely conducts suicide attacks against the government and US-led forces, denied any involvement.

No group has yet claimed responsibility but police suspect Daesh, which has been behind a series of bloody attacks in Kabul since 2016.

“A suicide bomber detonated the explosives he was carrying on a road leading to the site of the gathering… and according to initial reports and information seven people have been killed,” Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanekzai said in a statement.

But a police source told Arab News that the death toll was more than 10, and that 17 people were injured. The number of attacks in Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan has risen in recent months.

The clerics issued a religious decree that “suicide blasts, violence and terrorism” have “no legality in Islam” and are “definitely forbidden.” Committing, assisting and funding such acts is “impermissible,” they added.

The gathering also urged the government to clamp down on TV networks that broadcast content that is against Islam and Afghan national unity.