Taliban minister killed in Kabul bomb attack

Taliban refugee minister Khalil Haqqani was killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul, the movement’s most high-profile casualty since it returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.

Six other people were killed in the blast as Haqqani left his office, Interior Ministry sources said.

Khalil Haqqani was a prominent member of a powerful faction of the Taliban called the Haqqani network, and the United States designated him a global terrorist.

There was no immediate claim for the attack, which the Taliban blamed on Islamic State militants.

Khalil Haqqani’s brother Jalaluddin was a famous guerrilla leader who fought against Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s and founded the Haqqani network, which was behind many attacks during the Taliban’s 20-year insurgency.

Sirajuddin Haqqani, the minister’s nephew and Jalaluddin’s son, is the current Interior Minister of the Taliban government.

While the overall security situation in Afghanistan has improved since the Taliban gained full control with the full withdrawal of foreign troops in 2021, dozens of bombings and suicide attacks continue to occur in the country each year.

Many have been claimed by Khorasan Province of the Islamic Stateor ISKP, the regional affiliate of the so-called Islamic State group, a major rival of the Taliban.