Prominent Taliban cleric, Mr. Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqaniwas killed today in an attack in Kabul when an attacker detonated explosives hidden inside a plastic prosthetic leg, Taliban officials and sources said.

OUR Abdul RahmanThe intelligence chief of the area of ​​the Afghan capital where the explosion occurred confirmed the death.

“Unfortunately, it is with great sadness that we learned that a venerable cleric (Sheikh Rahimullah Haqqani) has been martyred as a result of a cowardly attack by enemies,” said Bilal Karimi, a spokesman for the Taliban command.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a seminary in Kabul today that killed a prominent Taliban cleric, the jihadist group said in a statement on its Telegram channel.

Four sources Taliban they told Reuters that the assailant was a man who had previously lost his leg and had hidden explosives inside a plastic prosthetic leg.

“We are investigating who this man was and who brought him to this wonderful place to enter his private office. Sheikh Haqqani. This is a very big loss for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” said a senior Taliban official at the Interior Ministry, using the name of the country’s current regime.

Haqqani was a prominent Taliban cleric who survived past attacks, including a major bombing in the northern Pakistani city of Peshawar in 2020, for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility, which killed at least seven people.

The Taliban say they have restored security since taking power when foreign forces left Afghanistan nearly a year ago.

However, there have been frequent attacks in recent months, many of which have been claimed by the Islamic State, and on several occasions they have targeted religious and ethnic minorities, as well as high-ranking Taliban figures.