High-profile Afghan Taliban religious scholar assassinated in Pakistan

Afghan Taliban religious : Afghanistan’s Taliban government confirmed Friday that one of its leading religious scholars was assassinated by unknown assailants in neighboring Pakistan.

The deceased, identified as Mohammad Omar Jan Akhundzada, was leading evening prayers at a mosque in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Thursday when gunmen stormed the building and fatally shot him before fleeing, according to local police.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the deadly shooting.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Friday on social media platform X that Akhundzada was part of a government oversight committee of top Islamic scholars and taught at the central “jihadi” madrasa, or Isla mic seminary, in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. Mujahid also tweeted a picture of the deceased man.

“We are saddened to learn that the country's leading religious scholar … has been martyred,” Mujahid wrote. “We condemn the killings of religious scholars as a heinous crime by enemies of Islam,” he said without providing further details.

Multiple Afghan sources reported that the slain scholar was a senior adviser to the reclusive Taliban supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, who is based in Kandahar and governs Afghanistan from there through religious decrees stemming from his strict interpretation of Islam.

A senior Taliban official explained that the oversight committee comprises leading religious scholars and is responsible for reviewing all regulations before they are implemented to ensure that they conform to Islamic principles.

Quetta is the capital of Pakistan’s border province of Baluchistan. The city and surrounding areas host hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees and have previously also witnessed deadly attacks on Taliban-affiliated personalities in the community.

Taliban chief Akhundzada himself was based in the Pakistani province and directed insurgent attacks from there against the United States-led foreign forces in Afghanistan until their withdrawal in August 2021, which paved the way for his fundamentalist group to reclaim control of the country.

Since then, several central Taliban religious figures and associates also have been assassinated inside Afghanistan, including the capital, Kabul.

Islamic State-Khorasan, a regional Islamic State affiliate and bitter rival of the Taliban, has claimed responsibility for many of the attacks. VOA/SP