Top Afghan Taliban Religious Scholar, Mohammad Omar Jan Akhundzada Assassinated In Pakistan

Top Afghan Taliban religious scholar, Mohammad Omar Jan Akhundzada assassinated in Pakistan while leading an evening prayer.

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

The deceased, Mohammad Omar Jan Akhundzada, was leading evening prayers at a mosque in Quetta, southwestern Pakistan, when gunmen stormed the building and killed him before fleeing, according to local police.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the fatal shooting.

According to Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, Akhundzada served on 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 photo of the deceased man.

“We are saddened to learn that the country’s leading religious scholar … has been martyred,” Mujahid said in a statement. “We condemn the killings of religious scholars as a heinous crime committed by enemies of Islam,” he said, without providing any additional information.

According to multiple Afghan sources, the slain scholar was a senior adviser to the reclusive Taliban supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, who is based in Kandahar and governs Afghanistan through religious decrees based on his strict interpretation of Islamic law.

A senior Taliban official explained that the oversight committee is made up of leading religious scholars who are in charge of reviewing all regulations before they are implemented to ensure that they adhere to Islamic principles.

Quetta is the capital of Pakistan’s border province, Baluchistan. The city and surrounding areas are home to hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees, and there have previously been deadly attacks on Taliban-affiliated individuals in the community.

Taliban chief Akhundzada was based in the Pakistani province and directed insurgent attacks against US-led foreign forces in Afghanistan until they were withdrawn in August 2021, allowing his fundamentalist group to reclaim control of the country.

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

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

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