Afghanistan's Taliban regime today blamed Iranian hardliners as the death toll from a blast targeting an exiled Iranian Sunni Muslim cleric rose to 10, officials said.
A foreign ministry statement said elements who were "oppressing the Iranian people" were trying to undermine the "process of normalization" between Iran and Afghanistan.
A powerful bomb exploded outside a mosque in the western city of Herat yesterday, killing eight people immediately, including exiled Iranian Islamic scholar Maulvi Mohammad Musa and another Iranian national who was believed to the bomber, officials in Herat said. Two others later died of their injuries.
"This terrorist action once again shows that some circles in Iran, with resort to terror and physical annihilation of individuals beyond Iranian borders, are upholders of international terrorism."
They are ignorant that such acts can extensively damage relations between the two countries, the statement said.
"The circles upholding terrorism ... not only attacked the mutual normalization process but are also trying to endanger relations between the two Muslim nations with this extreme move, inciting religious sentiments," the statement said.
It called on the Iranian people to vote out such elements in the upcoming elections in Iran.
The blast in which eight people were killed on the spot, triggered violent protests in the city and Herat governor, Maulvi Khairullah Khairkhwa, immediately blamed Iranian agents.
AFP