Ayatollah Sistani Condemns Terrorist Attack on Girls’ School in Afghanistan

Iraq’s Grand Marja condemned the terrorist attack on a girls’ school in Afghanistan’s Kabul and called on the world’s countries to thwart the ill-wishers’ sinister plots against the future of Afghanistan.

Issuing a statement, the office of the Grand Shia Marja Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Sistani strongly condemned the terrorist attack on a Sayyid al-Shuhada school in Kabul and extended condolences to the Afghan nations and victims’ families.

“Although for years Afghanistan’s oppressed civilians have occasionally been brutally attacked by extremist and ruthless groups, this crime is rare in its type and in some ways more painful,” the statement said.

What follows is the full statement:

In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji’un
(Verily we belong to Allah and verily to Him do we return)

The horrible crime that killed many girl students of Sayyid al-Shuhada School in Kabul on the day of the holy month of Ramadan and resulted in the martyrdom of tens of people and the wounding of many more, leaves the heart of every free and conscientious person wounded and full of sorrow.

Although for years Afghanistan’s homeless civilians have been brutally attacked by extremist and ruthless groups from time to time, this crime is rare and in some ways more painful.

We offer our deepest condolences to the honorable and oppressed people of Afghanistan, especially to the bereaved families, and we ask God Almighty for their patience and for the injured to be healed immediately.

In the current difficult situation of the dear country of Afghanistan, and given the possibility of extremist groups gaining more power, national unity and solidarity among all ethnic groups and nationalities of this country is more necessary than ever, the government and national and religious leaders and the elders of the Afghan society should think of a way to protect civilians, especially ethnic and religious minorities, from the oppression and crime of terrorist groups, and take appropriate measures.

Muslim countries and the international community also have a duty not to leave the helpless nation of Afghanistan alone in these difficult circumstances and not to allow the sinister plan drawn by the ill-wishers for the future of this country to result in more innocent people being targeted by criminal attacks by extremist groups.

We ask God Almighty to perpetuate the honor and respect of the honorable people of Afghanistan.

27th Ramadan 1442 AH

The Office of the Grand Ayatollah Sistani- Najaf Ashraf

A bomb blast outside the Sayyid al-Shuhada school in western Kabul on Saturday killed and injured dozens of people, most of the students.