Afghan cleric killed in Quetta

Sheikh Abdullah Zakiriwas the head of Afghanistan’s clerics council.

QUETTA/ ISLAMABAD: The targeted killing of Afghan nationals continued unabated in Quetta as unidentified gunmen on Wednesday shot dead a senior and influential Afghan religious leader Sheikh Abdullah Zakiri.

Zakiri was the head of Afghanistan’s clerics council – Ittehad-e-Ulema Afghanistan, and well-respected in the country, those familiar with him told The Express Tribune. Zakiri had opposed the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan and had also issued decrees against them. Confirming the news of his death, one of his close aides said gunmen fired at Sheikh Zakiri near a mosque, before fleeing from the scene.

“Police have launched an investigation into the killing,” said Quetta Capital City Police Abdul Razzaq Cheema, adding that the body had been shifted to Bolan Medical Complex for autopsy where medics said he had received bullets on the chest and had died on his way to the hospital. Around a dozen Afghan nationals, who were either students or teaching at religious seminaries, have been targeted in Quetta during the last couple of months.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th, 2014.