The Taliban mentioned Saturday their particular forces had killed 9 Islamic State operatives and captured two others in in a single day raids within the capital, Kabul, and elsewhere in Afghanistan.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the Taliban authorities, mentioned that intelligence info had led safety forces to an “vital hideout of Daesh” in Kabul late Friday. He used an area identify for the self-proclaimed Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate, often called Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-Okay.
Mujahid mentioned the following gunbattles killed six militants and one Taliban safety drive member. The raid got here shortly after safety forces had captured two key ISIS-Okay members in a separate operation in one other a part of Kabul, he famous with out elaborating.
Individually, the Taliban-led Afghan Inside Ministry mentioned Saturday that “on the premise of strong intelligence” authorities forces late final night time assaulted an ISIS-Okay hideout in northeastern Takhar province, which borders Tajikistan. The raid within the Dasht Qala district killed three Daesh members, together with an “vital” commander, the assertion mentioned.
Mujahid claimed that every one the six Daesh males killed in Kabul have been linked to current suicide bombings within the metropolis, one on an academic middle and the opposite on a mosque.
“That they had plotted assaults on Kabul’s Wazir Akbar Khan Mosque, the Kaaj tuition middle and different civilian targets,” Mujahid mentioned.
The blast on the feminine part of the packed tuition middle on September 30 killed 53 individuals, largely ladies and younger girls, and injured 110 individuals. It got here simply days after a bomb exploded on the foremost mosque within the closely guarded Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood, which homes key authorities places of work and international diplomatic missions.
No group thus far has claimed duty for both assault.
The Taliban seized energy greater than a 12 months in the past when all American and allied troops left Afghanistan after 20 years of involvement within the warfare. The Islamist rulers preserve they’ve since introduced peace to a lot of the nation and declare their operations towards ISIS-Okay have largely degraded its potential to pose a critical safety problem.
However ISIS-Okay, which launched its extremist actions in early 2015, has intensified assaults within the nation, largely concentrating on members of the minority Shiite Muslim Hazara neighborhood, elevating questions on Taliban claims.
US considerations
U.S. officers see ISIS-Okay as a rising risk within the crisis-ridden South Asian nation.
Thomas West, the U.S. particular envoy for Afghanistan, informed VOA that in his assembly with the Taliban earlier this month in Doha, Qatar, the 2 sides mentioned the rising risk of Daesh.
“We mentioned the Taliban’s efforts to struggle Daesh. Daesh is a standard enemy of america and all Afghans. The horrific assaults towards Hazaras should cease,” West informed VOA.
“The Taliban have made clear that that is their struggle and energy, and they’re going to fulfil their commitments outlined within the Doha settlement to make sure that terrorists don’t threaten america or her allies,” the U.S. envoy mentioned.
He referred to the February 2020 deal Washington signed with the then-insurgent Taliban, paving the way in which for all U.S.-led worldwide forces to withdraw from Afghanistan in return of the Taliban’s counterterrorism assurances.
West described as “extraordinarily regarding” the assaults by terrorists, ISIS-Okay specifically, launched from Afghan soil over the previous 12 months towards neighboring Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan. Washington has a “particular curiosity in making certain that these varieties of assaults are contained,” the U.S. envoy emphasised.
VOA’s Urdu Service contributed to this story.
