Incidents targeting Shiite minority up | Explosion days after 4 killed in Taluqan city

Kabul, January 1

At least 10 persons were killed and eight others seriously injured in an explosion that rocked the Kabul military airport on Sunday, a Taliban interior ministry spokesperson confirmed.

Spokesperson Abdul Nafee Takkur reported that an explosion caused injuries close to the military airport’s main gate in Kabul. No one has taken responsibility for the attack as of yet.

This explosion comes three days after four people were injured in a blast that rocked Taluqan city, the capital of northern Takhar province on Wednesday.

The military airport is around 200 metres (219 yards) from the civilian airport and close to the Interior Ministry, itself the site of a suicide bombing last October that killed at least four people.

Taliban security commander Abdul Mubin Safi in Takhar confirmed the explosion and stated that a bomb was placed under a local administrative staff’s desk, as per official reports.

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor said the blast left several people dead and wounded. He gave no exact figures or further information about the bombing, saying details of an investigation will be shared later.

Local residents said a loud explosion was heard before 8 am in the vicinity of the military side of the heavily fortified airport. They said the area had been sealed off by security forces, and all roads had been closed. The Taliban-run administration has been faced with a bloody insurgency waged by the Islamic State militant group, which has in recent weeks targeted a number of key installations in Kabul, including the Russian and Pakistani embassies as well as the office of the country’s former prime minister

In the past few months, the war-torn county has witnessed increasing security incidents including explosions.

The regional affiliate of the Islamic State group — known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province — has increased its attacks since the Taliban takeover in 2021.

Targets have included Taliban patrols and members of Afghanistan’s Shiite minority. Although Taliban security forces prevented photography and filming directly at the blast site, the checkpoint appeared damaged but intact. — Agencies