Photo: WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP/Getty Images
At least six civilians were killed this Monday (03.27.2023) in Kabul in a suicide attack near the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “A suicide bomber was detained by security forces before reaching his targeta checkpoint, and detonated the explosives he was carrying, killing six people and injuring several,” said the capital’s police spokesman, Khalid Zadran, on the social network Twitter.
The Afghan television Tolo News stated, for its part, that at least twelve people were injured., citing the Italian NGO Emergency, which has one of the main hospitals in the capital. “A very strong explosion took place and shook the entire area, which is now blocked by the security forces,” Haseebullah, a trader in the area, told Efe. The explosion occurred in front of a business center, near the aforementioned Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The suicide attack comes after the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group claimed responsibility for a bomb attack last January also in front of the Afghan Foreign Ministry, which left at least five dead according to official figures, and another at the capital’s airport. The Taliban maintain a strong rivalry with the terrorist formation, which emerged as one of the main threats to security in Afghanistan after the rise to power of the fundamentalists in August 2021.
Given the increase in these types of attacks claimed by the IS, Afghan security forces have intensified the number of operations to dismantle hideouts of the jihadist group all over the country. This same Monday, the Taliban’s General Intelligence Directorate (DGI) reported the death of at least three prominent IS members in various operations carried out in recent weeks in northern Afghanistan. The country kicked off the celebration of the holy month of Ramadan on Thursday.
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