WEB DESK
A huge blast rocked one of the biggest mosques in Afghanistan’s western city of Herat on Friday, killing scores of people including the mosque’s influential imam and causing many other casualties, local media reported.
Tolonews said the blast occurred at Gazargah Mosque just before Friday prayers, killing imam Mujib ur Rahman Ansari.
Images on social media showed what appeared to be blood-stained bodies scattered around the compound of the mosque.
Ansari was an influential pro-Taliban cleric known for his fiery speeches.
International news agencies reported that at least 18 people had been killed. Other reports put the death toll much higher at 48.
Graphic images and videos were posted to social media after the blast, showing blood in the courtyard of the mosque and people crying loudly.
In July, during a religious gathering in Kabul, he called for those who commit “the smallest act against our Islamic government” to be beheaded.
