ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - At least seven people including an exiled Iranian Islamic scholar were killed and 30 wounded by a bomb blast outside a mosque in the Afghan city of Herat on Friday, the Taliban authorities said.
A senior Taliban official blamed neighbouring Iran for the blast, which reportedly sparked swift anti-Iran protests and violence in which the Iranian consulate in Herat was attacked.
However Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil said later on state radio that Iran had denied any role.
Tehran condemned the bombing and blamed "enemies" of the two countries, calling on the Taliban to protect Iranian citizens.
A Pakistan-based Afghan news service, quoting Herat provincial governor Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, earlier said eight people were killed by the blast, and cited another unidentified source as putting the toll at 20.
But the Taliban's Voice of Shariat radio, monitored in Islamabad, later reported that seven people were killed and 30 injured by the bomb in the ancient city in western Afghanistan.
The radio said the explosive was believed to have been set off by an Iranian who arrived in Herat three days ago and was also killed in the blast.
The Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) quoted Khairkhwa as saying by telephone that Iran had targeted exiled Iranian Sunni sect leader Maulvi Mohammad Musa, who was killed.
MUTTAWAKIL CAUTIOUS
Muttawakil was more cautious, saying the protesters who attacked the Iranian consulate believed Tehran was responsible.
"But an Iranian official, while contacting our foreign office, dissociated (Tehran) from the incident," he said. "Anyway, we are in contact with the Iranian authorities in this regard to avoid any wrong course."
In Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned the bombing and the subsequent attack on the consulate, saying "foreign elements and enemies of Iran and Afghanistan" may have been responsible.
"Iran holds the Taliban responsible for protecting the lives of Iranian citizens and diplomats and safeguarding property at the legation," ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told the Iranian news agency IRNA. He said no Iranian diplomats had been hurt.
AIP quoted Khairkhwa as saying spontaneous protests broke out after the bomb, which was fixed to a bicycle, exploded.
The crowd set fire to the consulate, vehicles parked there and five places of worship of the minority Shi'ite sect in Herat, he said.
The blaze was brought under control and the Iranian diplomats were safe, he said. "The situation is under control."
AIP said the governor called the blast an "act of sabotage by Iran."
He said Musa had lived in exile in Afghanistan since before the Taliban movement took power in 1996.
The conservative Islamic Taliban movement claims to control about 95 percent of Afghanistan and draws strength from the majority Sunni sect, and accuses Shi'ite-led Iran of supporting the north-based opposition alliance fighting Taliban rule.
Iran denies the charge, although it still recognises ousted president Burhanuddin Rabbani, whose forces were driven by the Taliban from the capital Kabul in September 1996.
17:08 05-04-01
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