Surely there will be protests all over the Islamic world over this desecration of a mosque, right? “Turban suicide bomber kills Afghan cleric, 3 others,” by Ismail Sameem for Reuters, July 14 (thanks to Ima):
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) – A suicide attacker who appears to have concealed his explosives inside a turban killed a senior cleric and at least three other people on Thursday at a funeral service for the assassinated brother of the Afghan president in southern Kandahar city.
At least 15 people were also wounded in the midday attack at the city’s Red Mosque, the Interior Ministry said. Cabinet ministers and relatives of President Hamid Karzai had been among the mourners, but escaped unscathed.
The attack came just two days after a trusted family associate killed Ahmad Wali Karzai, probably the most powerful and controversial man in southern Afghanistan, at his home.
His death has created a dangerous power vacuum in Kandahar, that some fear could spark a wave of greater violence in an already volatile city. Kandahar was the site of over half of all targeted killings in Afghanistan between April and June.
A weeping Karzai buried his brother on Wednesday and moved swiftly to give another brother a key tribal role left vacant, in an apparent attempt to pre-empt political infighting.
President Karzai had returned to Kabul after the burial so was not at the service, his spokesman Waheed Omer said. Omer added that the bomber appeared to have hidden the explosives in his turban.
“Four people, including a child were martyred. Among the dead was the head of the provincial Ulema Council, Hikmatullah Hikmat,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement. An Ulema Council is a body of clerics that regulates religious issues….
The Taliban could not immediately be reached for comment on the Kandahar attack.
Religion is at the core of their ideology and they have in the past denied any role in attacks on religious sites, even when they appear to further their military strategy….
Which religion, Reuters?