IS-KP attackers at the Pakistan Embassy and a hotel in Kabul have reportedly been “killed.”
During the operation, a spokesperson for the Afghan Taliban stated that security forces had killed 8 and apprehended 7 insurgents.
KABUL: Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, confirmed details of an operation that “eliminated a group of ISKP in Kabul and Nimroz provinces,” adding that militants involved in the attack on the Pakistani embassy in Kabul as well as a separate attack on a hotel targeting Chinese nationals were killed.
In what Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif described as “an assassination attempt” on the mission’s chief Ubaidur Rehman Nizamani, who was safe, earlier in December, rounds fired at the Pakistan embassy in the Afghan capital wounded a Pakistani security guard.
The attack was blamed on the proscribed Islamic State organization the next day. The IS Khorasan chapter claimed in a statement reported by jihadist watchdog SITE that it had “attacked the Pakistani envoy and his security.”
Afghanistan discussion by Bilawal and Mevlüt
“We have seen indications that the IS-KP has taken responsibility for the terrorist attack on the Pakistan Embassy premises on December 2, 2022,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a statement on December 4.
We are independently and in consultation with the Afghan authorities checking the accuracy of these reports, according to the statement.
On December 12, armed men opened fire inside a hotel in Kabul’s city center that was popular with Chinese tourists. Later, Beijing announced that five of its citizens had been hurt in the assault.
In a statement released today, Zabihullah Mujahid said that operations against a “dangerous and crucial network” of Daesh (Islamic State) were conducted on Wednesday by the security forces of the Taliban administration.
The spokesman acknowledged that eight militants, including foreign nationals, were killed in the operation and that seven more people were taken into custody. He also stated that the militant group Daesh was responsible for both of the aforementioned attacks.
During the raid, a female IS-KP member was also reportedly detained. For “security reasons,” Mujahid chose not to disclose the nationalities of the militants.
According to Mujahid, who spoke to local media, “the scores of individuals arrested have been transported for investigation.”
In addition, he claimed that the militants who had been killed had apparently been plotting other strikes on “many other major areas”.
He continued, saying the “group was the most dangerous,” saying they “intended to bring in Daesh militants from other countries to Afghanistan and carry out massive coordinated strikes.”
Learn More According to the interior ministry, Pakistan is attempting to hold discussions with the TTP.
The spokesperson continued by saying that three “hideouts” had been “destroyed” during the operation that was carried out in Zaranj, the capital of the Nimroz province, as well as the Shuda-e-Saliheen and Qalacha regions.
He said that he had acquired “a huge number of small guns, hand grenades, mines, suicide vests, and explosives.”
Afghanistan is under threat of “action”
The United States has previously vowed to “take action” against the Taliban government if it discovered foreign terrorists reorganizing there.
Ned Price, a spokesperson for the US State Department, said in a news conference that the Taliban was “either unable or unwilling to live up to the commitments that they’ve made in a number of areas” in response to a question about their failure to provide safe havens for terrorist organizations.
He added that this was something that the US was interested in. “One of those areas is the commitment they have made to counterterrorism, to seeing to it that Afghanistan does not once again become a haven for international terrorists, a launch pad for attacks against countries well beyond its borders,” he said.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is prohibited, and its affiliates will not be allowed to operate on Afghan territory, according to a new demand Pakistan plans to make to the interim Afghan government, according to official sources who spoke to The Express Tribune.
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The Afghan Taliban would be asked to cooperate in this effort, they said, adding that they would only have two options: “either you are with Pakistan or with the TTP.” This was in contrast to the civil and military leadership’s decision to deal with the TTP and other terror organizations with iron hands.
According to the spokesperson, the US was not “totally tied to the Taliban” when it came to counterterrorism in the area because of their “capabilities.”
The US had “demonstrated those capabilities in recent months with the killing of the now-deceased al-Qaida emir, Ayman al-Zawahiri,” the speaker emphasized.
The US had, in the words of Price, “lived up to the commitment that you have repeatedly heard from President Biden since the drawdown of military personnel from Afghanistan last year, that we will take action if we observe foreign terrorists assembling in Afghanistan.”
