Afghan men walk near the scene a day after a suicide bomber detonated explosives in front of the General Directorate for Monitoring and Following Up Decrees and Instructions in Kabul on September 3, 2024. | Photo credit: AFP
Islamic State The (IS) group on Tuesday (September 3, 2024) claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing this week at a prosecutor’s office in Kabul that killed at least six people and injured 13.
The attacker detonated his explosive-laden jacket on Monday (September 2, 2024) as investigators and other staff were leaving work, the group said in a statement on its news outlet Amaq, in an attack meant to avenge the executions of those held in prisons run by the country’s Taliban government.
IS claimed that 45 people were killed in the blast, which is much higher than the death toll of six people given by Taliban officials on Monday (September 2, 2024) after the blast in the southwestern Kala Bakhtiar area of the capital. Taliban government officials were not immediately available for comment on the IS claim.
After the blast, Taliban security forces cordoned off the area and prevented journalists and others from reaching the scene.
Extremists in Afghanistan have increased their attacks since the Taliban took over the country in 2021. Targets have included Taliban patrols and members of the country’s Shia minority.
Six people injured in the blast on Monday (September 2, 2024) were taken to a surgical center in Kabul run by humanitarian group Emergency NGO, where two of them had to undergo major surgery, the group’s director Dejan Panic said.