Taliban claim they destroyed an Islamic State cell in Afghan capital

The authorities of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan announced on Monday the “destruction” of a cell of the jihadist group Islamic State in the capital, Kabul, a few hours after an attack attack on a mosque in the city which left several dead and wounded.

Afghan Taliban spokesman and deputy information minister Zabihulá Mujahid noted that “A special unit of the Islamic Emirate’s Mujahedin carried out an operation against ISIS insurgents in Kabul Police District 7.

“The operation, which was very successful and decisive, resulted in the total destruction of the cell and the death of the Islamic State insurgents”, Mujahid said via his account on the social network Twitter, temporarily blocked Sunday by the social network after confirming the attack in Kabul.

Mujahid did not say whether this operation is linked to the Kabul attack, for which responsibility has not been claimed for the moment. The attack is the most serious in the Afghan capital since the withdrawal of American forces and the seizure of power by the Taliban in mid-August.

Taliban sources told the Russian agency on condition of anonymity. Sputnik that twelve people died in the attack, while witnesses cited by the Afghan network Ariana said that the explosion had killed at least a dozen people.

Taliban authorities assured last week that their security forces launched several operations against cells in ISIS’s Khorasan province. (ISKP, for its acronym in English), which the group considers “seditious forces”.

ISIS pointed out on September 19 that it was behind a series of attacks in eastern Nangarhar province against Taliban forces that are believed to have left at least 25 dead, although new Afghan authorities refused to give a precise figure of the victims.

The Taliban killed several members of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) last night in one of their hiding places in Kabul, in the first such operation launched in the capital since the Islamists took power in Afghanistan.

The Taliban special forces operation took place in northern Kabul, where ISIS operatives were hiding in a partially destroyed house. Efe Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi.

During the operation “all ISIS members present in the hiding place died”, said the spokesperson, without offering an exact death toll, adding that “a large quantity of explosives, stored by members of the IS in the house, exploded during the operation and partially destroyed “.

Karimi called the operation carried out by the Islamists “successful and decisive” because the jihadists used this hiding place as a base to “prepare their evil plans and attacks” in Kabul.

For their part, several eyewitnesses pointed out Efe that the fighting during the operation lasted for hours, and gunshots and explosions were heard.

“It was a tough showdown that lasted over four hours. We could hear the gunshots and more than four explosions, one of them was very loud “, specified Efe Arian Zamani, a resident of the area where the operation took place.

The uncertainty and intense clashes kept them from “sleeping for hours,” and it wasn’t until the morning that they realized it was an operation against ISIS, Zamani said.

This is the first Taliban operation against ISIS in Kabul since the Islamists took full control of the country on August 31, and it comes hours after an explosion was recorded near the entrance to it. ‘a mosque in the capital which left at least two. dead and four injured.

At the time of the attack, which took place early in the afternoon yesterday, a ceremony was being held for the death of the mother of the main Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid.

So far, no armed group or organization has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Kabul is one of three Afghan provinces, along with Nangarhar and Parwan, bordering the capital, where clashes between IS fighters and the Taliban have been recorded in recent weeks.

Nangarhar remained the main area of ​​operations of the Islamic State in Afghanistan, where in recent years there have been numerous clashes between its fighters, the Taliban, and Afghan and foreign troops.

Despite this strong opposition, IS fighters have now become the main threat against the Taliban, potentially carrying out attacks like the August 26 attack at Kabul airport, which killed at least 170 people.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in mid-August after entering Kabul shortly after then-president Ashraf Ghani fled the country and following the withdrawal of international troops from the Asian country. ISIS considers the Taliban to be traitors to the orthodoxy of “sharia” or Islamic law, and they defend a much harsher interpretation.

(With information from Europa Press and EFE)

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