Brother of Afghan Taliban chief killed in Pakistan mosque blast: ex-militant commander

Undated photo of Hafiz Ahmadullah, brother of Afghan Taliban supreme leader Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, who was killed in a bomb attack at a mosque in Kuchlak, a town on the outskirts of Quetta in Pakistan's Balochistan province on August 16, 2019. (Photo courtesy Taliban social media)

• Hafiz Burhan confirms death of Hafiz Ahmadullah, brother of Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada
• Akhundzada was not in mosque when bomb went off, lived and taught at complex for years before becoming Taliban supremo

PESHAWAR: The brother of the chief of the Afghan Taliban was among at least four people killed in a bomb blast at a mosque in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, a former Afghan Taliban commander said on Saturday.
The mosque and seminary in the town of Kuchlak, on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Quetta, is known to be frequented by the Taliban’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, who lived, taught and preached there for at least 15 years before being made chief of the Taliban in May 2016. 
The blast took place as the Taliban and the United States are in the final stages of talks on an agreement that would see America withdraw its troops from neighboring Afghanistan. The attack, which left 26 wounded, could affect efforts to end the Afghan war.
“I just offered Fateha (condolences) over the martyrdom of Hafiz Ahmadullah, the brother of Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada,” Hafiz Burhan, a former Taliban leader, told Arab News, adding that Ahmadullah was the younger brother of the Taliban chief. 
He said the bomb at the mosque was triggered with the help of a time device, echoing Deputy Inspector General Police Quetta, Abdul Razzaq Cheema, who told media soon after the blast that a time device had been planted under the chair of the prayer leader.
Burhan said though there were at least five dozen worshippers at the mosque when the attack took place, the number of casualties would have been much higher had most of the seminary students not been home for Eid holidays.
“He (late Hafiz Ahmad Ullah) was himself delivering the Friday sermon and I believe he was the intended target of the attack,” Burhan said. Arab News could not independently verify this claim.