ISLAMABAD: Afghan Taliban’s chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Thursday his country’s forces had killed a group of Daesh militants involved in an attack on Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul last month, as Islamabad said it was trying to verify the information before releasing a statement.
Relations between Islamabad and Kabul hit a major low in recent months due to border skirmishes and an uptick in attacks in various Pakistani cities by a proscribed militant network, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), whose leaders are said to be based in Afghanistan.
On December 2, the Pakistan embassy in Kabul came under attack in what was described as an “assassination attempt” by officials in Islamabad against the country’s top diplomat in Afghanistan.
While Pakistan’s Chargé d’Affaires, Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani, remained unhurt, a Pakistani security guard sustained “critical injured” and was flown to Peshawar for medical treatment.
The regional chapter of Daesh, which calls itself the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (IS-KP), acknowledged in a statement its operatives “attacked the apostate Pakistani ambassador and his guards” in Afghanistan.
On Thursday, Mujahid provided details of an operation the Afghan forces carried out against the militant group involved in the attack. He added the radical outfit also tried to target Chinese nationals and others in his country.
“Yesterday night, an important and dangerous network of Daesh, which carried out attacks on the Langan Hotel, … Kabul military airport, the Pakistani embassy and other targets … was eliminated together with its three important hideouts in Kabul and Nimroz provinces,” Mujahid said in a Twitter post.
He maintained such groups of Daesh fighters were also “importing others rebels from abroad.”
“Eight Daesh terrorists were killed, many light weapons, hand grenades, mines, suicide vests, and explosives were recovered, while another seven Daesh terrorists were captured alive and a number of suspects were detained for questioning,” he added.
The Afghan official informed those killed in the operation also included foreign Daesh fighters.
Asked about the development, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra said in her weekly news briefing the government was trying to verify the information before issuing a statement.
Pakistan is home to more than a million Afghan refugees, and the porous border between the two countries is frequently the scene of clashes.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Afghan Taliban said they would not allow foreign militant groups to operate from their territory.
