The Afghan Taliban revealed on Monday that they had launched a crackdown on the hideouts of the militant Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP) group in Afghanistan.
The operation was launched in southern Afghanistan, after an increment in attacks by IS in recent weeks.
On Monday morning, a blast rocked Kabul, in which according to Afghanistan Interior Ministry spokesman Qari Sayeed Khosty, two people were wounded but no casualty was reported.
The Interior Ministry said that the blast happened just two days after a similar explosion was claimed by the militant group.
Devices used in both attacks have been frequently used in Afghanistan. The devices were magnetic in nature and were plastered onto vehicles.
In details furbished by the Interior Ministry, the explosive devices deployed typically tend to cause lesser deaths and harm than suicide blasts. The ministry furthered, however, that the magnetic devices were usually used in targeted attacks and could potentially shake faith in security apparatuses.
Taliban provincial police chief Abdul Ghafar Mohammadi told AFP that the efforts against Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) province – the local chapter of the group – began around Sunday midnight and went on through Monday morning in Kandahar’s four districts.
Mohammadi revealed that four Daesh fighters were killed, with at least ten arrested, while one blew himself up inside a house.
Local media also reported that a Taliban official, exercising anonymity privilege, said at least three civilians died during the operation.
Since the Taliban came into power, the militant group has been ravaging different parts of Afghanistan including Jalalabad, Kunduz, Kandahar, and Kabul.
Several attacks have also impacted the Shia community in the last three months. In October the group also claimed the responsibility of a suicide attack in Kandahar on a Shia mosque in which almost 60 people died and hundreds got injured.
In another attack, the group obliterated a minibus, which killed a renowned Afghan journalist and two others over the weekend in Kabul. In the beginning of this month, the ISKP militants stormed Kabul’s National Military Hospital, which resulted in the deaths of at least 19 people, with over 50 injuries reported to boot.
In addition, ISKP also have to their credit numerous terrorist affronts in Nangarhar province’s capital city Jalalabad, which has historically been a mainstay for ISKP operations.
