Taliban refugee minister Khalil Haqqani has been killed in a suicide bombing inside the interior ministry in Kabul, the movement’s most high profile casualty since it returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
Six others died in the blast as Haqqani was leaving his office, interior ministry sources said.
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.
The Islamic State group (IS) later claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to a report issued by IS’s “news agency” Amaq, an IS militant waited outside the minister’s office and detonated explosives as he walked out.
A Taliban spokesperson confirmed that Haqqani was killed by IS, Reuters news agency reported.
Khalil Haqqani’s brother Jalaluddin was a famous guerrilla leader who fought Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and founded the Haqqani network which was behind many attacks during the Taliban’s 20-year insurgency.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, the minister’s nephew and son of Jalaluddin, is the current interior minister in the Taliban government.
While the overall security situation in Afghanistan has improved since the Taliban gained complete control with the full withdrawal of foreign troops in 2021, there continue to be dozens of bombings and suicide attacks in the country each year.
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.
