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At least 5 dead after blast hits Afghan foreign ministry

Taliban security forces block a road after a suicide blast near Afghanistan’s foreign ministry at the Zanbaq Square in Kabul on January 11, 2023. (AFP)
Taliban security forces block a road after a suicide blast near Afghanistan’s foreign ministry at the Zanbaq Square in Kabul on January 11, 2023. (AFP)
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12 Jan 2023 03:01:41 GMT9
12 Jan 2023 03:01:41 GMT9
  • Government offices, foreigners targeted in series of attacks in recent weeks
  • No group has immediately claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s explosion

PARWIZ KAROKHAIL

KABUL: An explosion outside the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the center of Kabul on Wednesday has killed at least five people, police said. 

The blast in front of a gate to the ministry took place at a time when many employees were leaving their offices.

As security personnel cordoned off the area, Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran told Arab News that the explosion took place at 4 p.m. on the road in front of the ministry.

“At least five civilians were martyred and a number of others wounded as a result of the explosion,” he added in a later statement to the media.

No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion.

The blast comes as the Taliban announced the killing of a number of militants and the arrest of others during raids in Kabul and two other provinces on Jan. 4.

The operation targeted “a dangerous and significant network of Daesh” believed to be behind recent high-profile attacks in the capital, the Taliban said.

A regional affiliate of Daesh known as Islamic State Khorasan Province, or Daesh-K, claimed responsibility for a Dec. 2 attack on the Pakistani Embassy in what officials in Islamabad said was an assassination attempt against the country’s top envoy in Afghanistan.

On Dec. 11, Daesh gunmen stormed a hotel that caters to Chinese businessmen in central Kabul. The assailants were killed and another 21 people, including two foreigners, were wounded in a gunbattle lasting several hours.

On Jan. 2, Daesh claimed responsibility for an explosion outside the Kabul military airport that caused multiple casualties among Taliban security forces.

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