Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani, a well-known Afghan cleric, died in Kabul on Thursday when a bomb hidden in a prosthetic leg was detonated.
The author of the attack is unclear, but Haqqani had already been targeted by Islamic State Khorasan, the Afghan and Pakistani branch of the terrorist group that opposes the Taliban, the fundamentalist group that regained power in the Central Asian country a year ago.
The cleric’s death was confirmed by Abdul Rahman, intelligence chief for the district of the Afghan capital where the blast took place, and four other Taliban officials told Reuters news agency.
Bilal Karimi, a spokesman for the fundamentalist regime, said Haqqani was “martyred in a cowardly attack by enemies”.
Contrary to many Taliban, Rahimullah Haqqani defended the right of girls and women to education, according to the leader himself in a recent interview with the British network BBC. He even issued a fatwa (religious decree) in support of female education.
“There is no justification in sharia [a lei islâmica] to say that female education is not allowed,” he said. “All the religious books declare that female education is obligatory, because, for example, if a woman gets sick and needs medical care, it is far better to have her taken care of by another woman,” he explained.
Haqqani has survived other attacks, including an explosion in the northern city of Peshawar in neighboring Pakistan, two years ago. Claimed by IS, the attack killed seven people.
The Taliban claims to have restored security since taking power following the withdrawal of Western troops from Afghanistan. Regular attacks on mosques and populated areas, however, occur frequently and defy propagated discourse.
Last Friday, for example, IS claimed an attack on a Shiite area of Kabul. Police said eight people were killed and another 18 were injured in the blast, while the terrorist group said in a statement that 20 people had been killed.
In the first days of the Taliban return, when thousands of people tried to flee the country and crowded airports, in scenes that traveled the world, an attack by IS Khorasan on Kabul International Airport left more than 70 dead, between Afghans and Americans.
The country is also facing a serious economic and food insecurity crisis. The situation was compounded by the 6.1 magnitude earthquake that hit the country at the end of June, leaving more than a thousand dead.
