At least six civilians were killed on Monday March 27 in Kabul in a suicide attack claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the first since the start of Ramadan in Afghanistan. The assailant was targeted by Afghan forces, but the explosives he was carrying “exploded, killing six civilians and injuring others”Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafy Takor said on Twitter.
An Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondent reported that the explosion occurred in front of a business center, not far from the ministry. The Italian non-governmental organization Emergency, which runs a hospital in the capital, said for its part on Twitter to have received in its establishment two dead and twelve wounded, including a child.
The jihadist group EI then claimed responsibility for the attack in a press release published by its propaganda organ Amaq. This is the first attack in Afghanistan since the start of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, last Thursday. Last year several attacks were perpetrated during this period in the country.
This is the second time in less than three months that an attack has been perpetrated near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On January 11, a suicide attack in front of the entrance to this ministry, claimed by the Islamic State-Khorasan (EI-K) group, the local branch of the IS, left 10 dead and 53 injured, according to the Mission of United Nations assistance in Afghanistan (Manua).
Increase in IS attacks
An AFP employee on site saw a man with a Kalashnikov over his shoulder and carrying a bag blow himself up. ISIS has stepped up attacks against foreigners, religious minorities and government institutions.
The return to power of the Taliban ended two decades of war against NATO forces and the United States, leading to a significant reduction in violence. But since last year, IS has become the biggest security challenge for the government. IS and the Taliban share an austere Sunni Islamist ideology, but the former struggles to establish a “caliphate” world, while the latter want to lead an independent Afghanistan.
On December 12, five Chinese citizens were injured in the attack by armed men on a hotel in the Afghan capital housing Chinese businessmen. This raid was claimed by IS, as was the attack on the Pakistani embassy in Kabul, also in December. Islamabad had denounced a “assassination attempt” against his ambassador.
In September, an influential pro-Taliban imam working in one of the largest mosques in Herat, in the west of the country, Mujib ur Rahman Ansari, was killed in a huge explosion, in which seventeen also died. other people. That same month, two employees of the Russian embassy in Kabul and four Afghans were killed near the official building in a suicide attack claimed by IS.