Al-Sadr holds Taliban responsible for recent attack in Kabul

Shafaq News / The leader of the Sadrist movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, held the Taliban government responsible for the recent suicide attack that targeted the Shiite community in Afghanistan.

In a statement, al-Sadr said that the "extremist" Taliban, "terrorize Muslims, their mosques, and Juma'a prayers, instead of terrorizing the fateful triad."

"I hold the Taliban government fully responsible for the bombings targeting our Shiite Afghan brothers. Such attacks are likely to also target Sunni brothers who do not embrace the Taliban ideology."

The prominent Shiite cleric called on Saudi Arabia to intervene in order to put an end to such attacks.

A suicide attack at a tutoring center in the Afghan capital Kabul killed at least 19 people and wounded dozens, police said on Friday, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.

Many of those living in the western area where the blast occurred are Hazara, an ethnic mostly Shi'ite Muslim minority targeted in past attacks launched by the ultra-radical Islamic State and others.