Taliban refugee minister Khalil Haqqani has been killed in a suicide bombing inside his ministry in Kabul, the movement’s most high profile casualty since it returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
Khalil Haqqani was a top member of a powerful faction in the Taliban called the Haqqani network, and was designated a global terrorist by the US.
A Taliban spokesperson confirmed that Haqqani was killed by IS, Reuters news agency reported.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, the minister’s nephew and son of Jalaluddin, is the current interior minister in the Taliban government.
Many have been claimed by Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISKP, the regional affiliate of the so-called Islamic State group, a major rival of the Taliban.
As the movement’s most well-known victim since regaining control of Afghanistan in 2021, Taliban refugee minister Khalil Haqqani was killed in a suicide bombing inside his Kabul ministry.
According to sources from the interior ministry, Haqqani was leaving his office when the explosion claimed the lives of six more people.
A prominent member of the Haqqani network, a potent Taliban faction, Khalil Haqqani was named a global terrorist by the United States.
The attack’s perpetrator was later identified as the Islamic State group (IS).
The IS “news agency” Amaq reported that an IS militant waited outside the minister’s office and set off explosives as he left.
According to a Taliban spokesman, IS killed Haqqani, the Reuters news agency said.
Jalaluddin, the brother of Khalil Haqqani, was a well-known guerrilla leader who fought Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s and established the Haqqani network, which was responsible for numerous attacks during the Taliban’s 20-year insurgency.
The current Taliban government’s interior minister is Sirajuddin Haqqani, Jalaluddin’s son and the minister’s nephew.
Numerous bombings and suicide attacks occur in Afghanistan every year, despite the fact that the country’s general security situation has improved since the Taliban took total control after all foreign troops were withdrawn in 2021.
The Taliban’s main rival, Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISKP, is the regional affiliate of the so-called Islamic State group, and it has claimed many.
