The Islamic State group has claimed a bombing on a minibus that killed one person and wounded 11 in a Shiite-dominated neighborhood of the Afghan capital.
The jihadist group said on its Telegram channel late Sunday that “one Shiite was killed in a bombing by Caliphate soldiers in the Afghan capital.”
Kabul police said on Sunday the blast occurred in a western Kabul neighborhood home to many Shiite Muslims, a historically persecuted minority in Afghanistan and a frequent target of the Islamic State group that considers them heretics.
Italian nongovernmental organization Emergency NGO, which operates a hospital in Kabul, said on social media platform X that it had received eight people wounded in the blast, with seven in need of surgery and one “in a serious condition.”
The number of deadly bomb blasts and suicide attacks in Afghanistan has declined markedly since the Taliban ended their insurgency after seizing power in August 2021. However, a number of armed groups, including Islamic State-Khorasan, remain a threat.
Islamic State-Khorasan, or IS-K, is the group’s Afghanistan branch, “Khorasan,” referring to a historical region that included parts of Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.
The group also claimed an attack targeting tourists in Afghanistan in May that killed six people, including three foreigners.
It has also claimed responsibility for an attack on a Moscow concert hall in March that killed 145 people.
A UN counter-terrorism official warned this month that IS-K poses the greatest external terrorist threat to Europe, having “improved its financial and logistical capabilities in the past six months.”
Chief Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the concerns raised were “driven by propaganda” and that the group had been “significantly weakened” in Afghanistan.
“The Islamic Emirate (of Afghanistan) does not allow anyone to use Afghan soil against the security of any other country or to pose threats from Afghanistan,” he wrote on X.