The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a minibus explosion in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of the capital of Afghanistan that left one person dead and eleven injured.
Late on Sunday, the jihadist group announced on its Telegram channel that “one Shiite was killed in a bombing by Caliphate soldiers in the Afghan capital”.
The explosion happened in a neighborhood in western Kabul, according to Kabul police on Sunday. Shiite Muslims are a historically persecuted minority in Afghanistan and a common target of the Islamic State organization, which views them as heretics.
Italian nongovernmental organisation Emergency NGO, which operates a hospital in Kabul, said on social media platform X that it had received eight people wounded in the blast, with seven in need of surgery and one “in a serious condition”.
Since the Taliban took control of the country in August 2021 and halted their war, there has been a noticeable decrease in the amount of lethal bomb explosions and suicide strikes in Afghanistan. Still, a number of armed factions continue to pose a threat, such as Islamic State-Khorasan.
The group’s branch in Afghanistan is called Islamic State-Khorasan, or IS-K. The name “Khorasan” alludes to a historical territory that formerly comprised portions of Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.
The group also reported that six individuals, including three foreigners, were murdered in an attack that targeted tourists in Afghanistan in May.
Additionally, it has taken credit for the March attack on a Moscow concert hall that resulted in 145 fatalities.
This month, a UN counterterrorism expert issued a warning, stating that IS-K, having “improved its financial and logistical capabilities in the past six months,” poses the greatest external terrorist threat to Europe.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman for the Taliban government, stated that the organization had been “significantly weakened” in Afghanistan and that the fears expressed were “driven by propaganda”.
“The Islamic Emirate (of Afghanistan) does not allow anyone to use Afghan soil against the security of any other country or to pose threats from Afghanistan,” he wrote on X.
