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Taliban Kills Cleric from Pro-Government Council
Taliban guerrillas have shot dead a Muslim cleric from a pro-government council that declared an end to holy war, the third such attack in weeks, a security official said on Thursday."It ainât over till our holy men say itâs over!" Mawlavi Jenab, a member of the Ulema Shura, or clericsâ council, in the southern province of Kandahar, was attacked outside a mosque in Panjwaye district on Wednesday evening by gunmen on a motorcycle. Jenab died immediately, Kandahar security chief General Mohammad Salim told Reuters. Salim said it was the third bloody attack on members of the council since it announced earlier this year that Afghanistanâs "jihad," or holy war, was over and that Muslims should support the U.S.-backed government that replaced the Taliban in 2001. A Taliban commander, who asked not to be identified, confirmed that Taliban guerrillas were responsible. "Taliban riding on a motorcycle fired on him when he was on his way home after offering his dusk prayers," he said. "We dunit, and weâre proud of it!" In late June, the head of the council, Mawlavi Abdullah Fayaz, was wounded along with nine others in a bomb attack on his mosque in Kandahar. Another member, Adbul Hai, had been killed in an earlier shooting attack. Another Taliban commander, Mullah Rahmat Ullah, told Reuters three council members, including Fayaz, had been targeted for assassination, but he said he did not know Jenab was one of them. He did not name the other two. Abdus Samad, a former Taliban intelligence official, said council members were being targeted because they were supporters of President Hamid Karzai. Iâd get them some bodyguards, if I was you.
Posted by: Steve 2003-07-31 |
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