IS claims responsibility for Kabul bombing that killed dozens

There are conflicting reports about casualties in the deadly explosion near the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday which is the latest sign of a deteriorating security situation in the capital city Kabul.

Some sources confirmed that nearly 40 people were dead, while some others confirmed 20. All these were employees of the ministry. Dozens more were also wounded in the bombing claimed by the Islamic State terrorist group.

The IS terrorist group in a statement said that a “martyrdom-seeker” identified as Kheiber al-Kandahari detonated his explosive vest amidst a gathering of ministry employees and guards as they left through the ministry’s main gate.

The Taliban did not immediately comment on the IS’s claim and the groups news outlet Aamaq said the attack coincided with a ministry training course for diplomats.

The attack is aimed at the deterioration of security in Kabul and other major cities in Afghanistan in the recent past months. Targeted attacks, suicide bombings, and gun firing have occurred in several locations which resulted in the killing of Taliban members and innocent civilians.

Dozens of people killed

The Taliban police chief spokesman Khalid Zadran confirmed five casualties. But some sources and officials narrate different stories. Humanitarian organization emergency said its surgical center in Kabul had received over 40 patients.

Afghanistan ambassador in Italy, Khaled Zekriya said that “with enormous pain” the bombing “took the lives of 39 of our most precious and experienced colleagues, who for the last two decades patriotically served the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

At least 21 people were killed in the bombing, a Taliban official told Harici. He also said that only a Taliban security guard was killed and the rest were the employees of the ministry, all of them civil staff. Another four Taliban security forces were wounded in the bombing.

Social media users circulate some pictures of several employees of the ministry who lost their lives in the bombing.

Sibghatullah Ahmadi, former spokesman for the ministry of foreign affairs said that at least 50 employees of the ministry, who worked there ahead of the fall of the government to the Taliban in 2021, were killed or wounded.

First mass causality in 2023

Indeed, the Kabul bombing is the first mass casualty in 2023, but 2022 was much more deadly where hundreds of people were killed and wounded. Everywhere was a target last year, including mosques, tuition centers, shrines, and many more but the start of 2023 with high-level targets painted a dangerous picture for all officials of Taliban ministries.

Since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, there have been multiple attacks in Kabul that have claimed dozens of lives. Last September, at least 25 people, mostly young students, were killed after IS attacked their education center in Kabul.

Earlier that month, another six people, including two Russian Embassy employees, have been killed in a suicide blast near the Russian Embassy in Kabul. Again the IS claimed responsibility.

In August, an explosion at a mosque during evening prayers killed at least 21 people and wounded 33, highlighting the security failures.

In mid-December IS fighters stormed a hotel popular with Chinese citizens in which three assaults were killed and dozens innocent Afghans were wounded. Five Chinese citizens were also wounded. The Pakistan embassy was also attacked by the Daesh fighters. The Taliban members detained two men in connection.

On December 2, a blast happened in front of a mosque inside Hizb-e-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s office, in which two attackers tried to enter Hekmatyar’s office after an explosive-laden vehicle was detonated close to his office.

Hekmatyar in that time said that suicide attackers opened fire on people, killing one of his guards and injuring two others. Hekmatyar escaped the attack alive and his bodyguards killed the two assailants.

Security deterioration

Moreover, on January 1, 2023, an IS bomber exploded himself near the entrance at Kabul’s military airport that killed and wounded several people.

The Taliban did not provide exact figures, but local media citing sources reported that 10 people were killed and either others received injuries.

IS in a statement said that the purpose of the suicide attack was to “disrupt a meeting between the Taliban and foreign diplomats,”, but restrained to provide further details.

But sources said that a delegation from UNAMA, led by UN envoy Markus Potzel, had just left the ministry after meeting with Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the political deputy of the Taliban’s foreign ministry when the blast happened. Potzel and his team left the compound 10 minutes before the blast.

The incident happened in less than four minutes when Stanikzi left the compound after meeting Potzel.

World condemned the bombing

China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Qatar, Iran, US and others strongly condemned Wednesday’s attack in front of foreign ministry.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that Beijing strongly condemns the Kabul attack and hopes the Afghan government can protect citizens from all countries, including Chinese nationals

Wang added “as far as we know, there were no Chinese citizens killed or injured in this terrorist attack, (we) hope the Afghan side will take resolute and effective measures, earnestly protect citizens and institutions from all countries, including the Chinese side, that are in Afghanistan.”

Saudi Arabia also condemned the “terrorist attack in Kabul”, emphasizing that Riyadh “condemns all forms of violence, terrorism and extremism.”

Kingdom’s foreign ministry in a statement stressed that the country stands by the Afghan people during their plight, offering sincerest condolences to the families of the victims.

Victims of terrorism

Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi visiting wounded individuals at hospital

Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said he held a telephonic talk with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, where both sides discussed the brutal attack in Kabul.

During the talk, Zardari condemned the attack in the strongest terms and said “both people of Pakistan and Afghanistan are victims of terrorism, and we must do all we can to defeat this menace.”

Abdullah Abdullah, former Head of the High Council for National Reconciliation also condemned the attack and called it “against all human and Islamic principles.”

Moreover, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemned the attack and stated that violence is not part of any solution to bring lasting peace to Afghanistan.

The UK Chargé d’Affaires Hugo Shorter, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iran’s Embassy in Kabul, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation extended their deep condolences to the families of the victims and wished rapid recovery to those wounded.

“Need to know why/how this happened and what measures will be taken to prevent another attack,” US Charge d’Affaires Karen Decker said in a tweet referring to the Kabul bombing.

She furthered that “Afghan citizens and foreign guests alike need to be able to count on effective security.”

Confused and contradictory

Sadly, the Taliban opened gates of prisons and released the inmates detained for different crimes and terrorist related charges. Among them hundreds of IS members also managed to run away after the dramatic exit of the foreign forces and the collapse of western-backed government led by Ashraf Ghani.

From 2,000 to 5,000 IS members escaped the prison when the Taliban failed to control jails across Afghanistan when they seized power in 2021.

The most deadly attack carried out by one of the released IS members was on August 26, 2021 when it killed nearly 170 Afghans and 13 US forces.

After IS intensified its attacks, Taliban launched a campaign against IS members, and reportedly a large number of them seek refuge in neighboring Pakistan, said a source.