Residents in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul on Saturday strongly criticized the Afghan intelligence agencies over their failure to prevent the apparently systematic killing of Afghan religious leaders.
On Friday an explosion occurred at the Sher Shah Suri Mosque in the Kart-e-Char area in the west of Kabul as people were partaking in the Friday prayer, killing at least four worshippers, including mosque Imam Maulavi Azizullah Mufleh.
“I am gravely concerned, I didn’t sleep for two nights,” said Shah Mohammad Alim, a cleric in Kabul.
“These attacks are not acceptable for us, the government must take action, and those who perpetrated the attacks must be arrested,” said Maulavi Naseeruddin, a cleric.
The attack on a Kabul mosque on Friday, the second of its kind in less than two weeks, was widely condemned by the international community who called for peace in the country.
“The people are not satisfied with the government, the people are very angry, it releases the killers every day, it releases the thieves,” said Ahmad Qayoum, a resident in Kabul.
“We are working on special measures, we have close contacts with the Afghanistan Ulema Council and with all those who face threats,” said Tariq Aryan, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior.
On June 2, an explosion rocked Wazir Akbar Khan Mosque in Kabul’s diplomatic area, leaving at least two people dead including mosque Imam Mohammad Ayaz Niazi and wounding eight others.
Although the government tasked a team to investigate the murder, there have been no public announcements made.
