Syria: the mufti of Damascus killed in an attack
The mufti of Damascus Adnane al-Afyouni was considered close to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
SANA via AP
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According to the official Syrian press agency Sana, the mufti of the province of Damascus was killed this Thursday, October 22 in the explosion of a bomb placed in his vehicle.
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Adnane al-Afyouni was considered close to President Bashar al-Assad.
This Sunni cleric died on Thursday in a terrorist attack, according to the official Sana news agency.
He "
died after a bomb was placed in his car in the town of Qoudsaya
", northwest of the capital Damascus, she said, citing the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
Aged 66, the mufti of the province of Damascus had notably played a central role in recent years in the establishment of agreements between the Syrian authorities and the rebels to put an end to the fighting in the province of the capital.
It is, for example, during a prayer he presided at the Daraya mosque in September 2016 that Bashar al-Assad made one of his very rare appearances in public.
A symbolic image for power since this locality was previously a stronghold of rebels who had just left it following a surrender agreement.
For Adnane al-Afyouni, Daraya should be an example of reconciliation for the rest of the country.
The death of the mufti of the province of Damascus is a great loss for President Bashar al-Assad.
The terrorist attack, not yet claimed, was perpetrated in an area which was nevertheless well controlled by the authorities in place.
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Syria
Terrorism