KARACHI: Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said on Thursday the Islamic State (IS) militants involved in the attack on Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul have been killed in an operation, Dawn.com reported.

Afghan security forces carried out operations in Kabul against a “dangerous network” of the militant Islamic State group who were involved in attacks on the Pakistan embassy and on a hotel where Chinese nationals were staying, Mr Mujahid said in a statement.

The Afghan government spokesperson confirmed that the militants killed in the operation were also involved in a bomb attack near a military airfield in Kabul and several other areas, according to Dawn.com.

Mr Mujahid claimed the killed terrorists had planned more attacks on key targets.

Spokesperson says militants also attacked Chinese hotel, airfield

Separately, in a tweet, the Taliban spokesperson claimed the alleged militants had a “main role” in the hotel attack and “paved the way for foreign ISKP members to come to Afghanistan”.

He said that a similar operation was also conducted against Daesh in the western Nimroz province where eight people were killed and seven arrested.

The spokesperson said the operation in Kabul was carried out in the Shuda-i-Saliheen and Qalacha areas as well as Zaranj, the capital of Nimroz. Three hideouts were “eliminated” during the operation.

During a press conference in Islamabad on Thursday, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah was also asked about the Afghan Taliban’s announcement that a network of IS militants involved in the attack on Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul had been busted.

He said that Pakistan had received information in this regard, but until it was verified by the interior ministry, it would be treated as mere information. “If it is so, then we welcome it and it is their responsibility to provide security to officials in Afghanistan.”

The attack on the Pakistan embassy took place on Dec 2 when unidentified militants opened fire, targeting the Chargé d’Affaires (CdA) to Afghanistan Ubaidur Rehman Nizamani, who remained unhurt in the attack. His security guard was critically wounded in the attack.

The banned Islamic State group’s Khorasan chapter (IS-K), or ISKP, had claimed responsibility for the attack, confirming the target was Mr Nizamani.

Ten days after the attack, five Chinese nationals were wounded in a bombing-and-shooting attack prompting China to ask its nationals to leave the country.

The raids have come at a time when both the US and Pakistan have been pressing the Afghan government to not allow its land to be used for launching attacks and not provide safe havens to terrorist groups.

In Washington, when asked how the Pakistani and Afghan governments could win a war against the militants when the US and Nato forces failed to subdue them, US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said: “It is clear that this has been an enduring challenge…for the United States (and) for Nato.”

He pointed out that militancy has been a bigger challenge for Afghanistan’s neighbours, “who have often most frequently been the victims of attacks that have emanated from Afghanistan”.

The US official noted that the terrorist threat emanating from Afghanistan “has in the past not only presented a threat to Pakistan but to the region and, in some cases, as we know all too well, well beyond”. This was an obvious reference to the Sept 11 attack in the United States.

US, Turkiye sanctions

Separately on Thursday, the US and Turkiye blocked a finance network for the militant Islamic State group, the US Treasury announced, adds AFP.

The Treasury slapped sanctions on a Syrian, Abd Al Hamid Salim Ibrahim Ismail Brukan al-Khatuni, and his two sons for running what it called the IS’s foreign financing arm in Turkiye.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2023