Hours after a blast killed several people outside a mosque in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul on Sunday, the Taliban destroyed an Islamic State cell in Kabul, according to news agency AFP on Monday.
Taliban’s chief spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said that the fighters carried out the operation in the north of Kabul on Sunday evening. “As a result of the operation, which was very decisive and successful, the IS centre was destroyed and all the IS members in it were killed,” Mujahid shared the news on Twitter.
Several witnesses and journalists of AFP heard gunshots and blasts in Kabul when the Taliban was carrying out the operation. Abdul Rahaman, a resident in the capital city who is working with the government stated that special forces of the Islamic Emirate attacked at least three residences in his neighbourhood, adding, the fighting went on for hours.
At least five casualties were reported and 11 were wounded in Sunday’s bomb blast in Kabul. People inside the Eid Gah mosque were holding a ceremony in the memory of Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid’s mother, who died the previous week. Citing initial inputs, Mujahid said on Monday that those responsible for the blast right outside the mosque might have been Daesh-linked groups.
A government cultural commission official, on the condition of anonymity, told AFP that three people were arrested in connection with the blast. The explosive planted at the entrance of the mosque detonated as people were leaving the premises after offering condolences to Mujahid and his family, the official added.
{{/usCountry}}A government cultural commission official, on the condition of anonymity, told AFP that three people were arrested in connection with the blast. The explosive planted at the entrance of the mosque detonated as people were leaving the premises after offering condolences to Mujahid and his family, the official added.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, a witness at the mosque told the news agency the attack was carried out by a single suicide bomber. A group of Taliban members, who were inside the mosque grounds came under fire after the explosion and took two casualties, the witness said.
He also added that two units of the Taliban by mistake opened fire on each other because of the confusion after the explosion. However, interior ministry spokesman Qari Sayed Khosti denied the reports of any gunfire.
(With AFP inputs)