Profound sadness: Kabul, Afghan Taliban condemn Madina attack

“The Islamic Emirate condemns this incident in the strongest of terms..."

ISLAMABAD: In a rare expression of unanimity, the Afghan government in Kabul and the Afghan Taliban agreed on condemning Monday’s Madina attack.

Afghan Taliban on Tuesday pushed Muslim nations to expose the ‘conspiracies’ behind the terrorist attack against guards of the Prophet’s Mosque in Madina, causing multiple casualties.

The Taliban expressed ‘profound sadness’ over the late Monday’s terrorist attack that killed at least five Saudi security personnel and injured several others.

“The Islamic Emirate – which has been shocked by this gruesome act – condemns this incident in the strongest of terms and considers it an act of enmity and hatred towards Islamic rituals. Such acts in alHaram alNabawi can never be tolerated,” a Taliban statement said.

The statement from the leadership council said: “AlHaramain alSharifain (The Two Holy Sanctuaries) hold a collective value for every Muslim and no act of hostility towards it can ever be acceptable or tolerated.



“This crime has shown us just how cruel and full of hatred the plots of our enemies are towards our religious sanctums. This must prompt the Muslims to jointly combat it both physically and intellectually.”

In Kabul, the Afghan government said that such a heinous act in Ramazan and just before Eid showed that Takfiri terrorist groups did not adhere to the principles and practices of Islam and violated the sanctity of everything.

Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani in a message to his Saudi counterpart called for strategic cooperation between the states to counter the threat of terrorism in the world.

He said the people and the government of Afghanistan had been victims of attacks by Takfiri terrorist groups for the past two decades and there was an urgent need to destroy this phenomenon.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2016.