Tight security for Taliban minister’s funeral as Islamic State group claim deadly suicide attack

Tight security measures were in place Thursday for a Taliban minister’s funeral in Afghanistan after he was killed in a suicide bombing claimed by an affiliate of the Islamic State group.

Cabinet member Khalil Haqqani was the most high-profile casualty of an assault in the country since the Taliban seized power three years ago.

He died in a blast Wednesday at the Ministry for Refugees and Repatriation in the capital, Kabul, along with five others.

Haqqani is the uncle of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting interior minister and the leader of a powerful faction within the Taliban. The U.S. placed a bounty on both their heads.

In a statement carried by the Amaq News Agency, the Islamic State Khorasan Province — an affiliate of the Islamic State group — said one of its fighters carried out the suicide bombing. The fighter waited for Haqqani to leave his office and then detonated his device, according to the statement.

An official from eastern Paktia province, the Haqqanis’ heartland, gave a different account of what happened. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

The assailant was able to gain access to the ministry despite setting off an alarm on the body scanner because he told the guard he had metal plates in his hands, the official said. He also claimed he was a refugee.

The official added that Haqqani made time for refugees and people with disabilities who come to see him at work because he was sympathetic to their plight.

He was approaching the ministry after praying in the compound’s mosque when the assailant detonated the bomb, the official added.

The minister’s funeral is in Garda Serai district, Paktia.

Hamdullah Fitrat, the government’s deputy spokesman, said Thursday that top officials are attending and security measures are in place.

A video purportedly from the scene of the funeral showed a vast but empty patch of land with a row of guards and armored vehicles on one side. A fire truck is on standby.

The U.N. Mission in Afghanistan was among those condemning the ministry attack. “There can be no place for terrorism in the quest for stability,” the mission said on the X platform.

Neighboring Pakistan has also expressed its shock. Mohammad Sadiq, the special representative for Afghanistan, wrote on X Wednesday that the government stood in solidarity with Afghanistan and reiterated its commitment to work with Afghanistan in fighting the “menace of terrorism.”

The IS group’s affiliate, a major rival of the ruling Taliban, has previously carried out bombings across Afghanistan.

But suicide attacks have become rare since the Taliban seized power in August 2021 and U.S. and NATO forces withdrew. Such assaults have mostly targeted minority Shiite Muslims, especially in the capital.

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Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed contributed to this report from Islamabad.

By The Associated Press