KABUL: The Daesh group claimed responsibility Thursday for a deadly bombing that killed at least five people near the Foreign Ministry in the Afghan capital the previous day.
The bombing was the second major attack in Kabul in 2023 and drew condemnation from the international community.
The extremist group said in a statement that a “martyrdom-seeker” it identified as Kheiber Al-Qandahari detonated his explosive vest amidst a gathering of ministry employees and guards as they left through the ministry’s main gate.
There was no immediate response from Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers about the Daesh claim. Kabul police chief spokesman Khalid Zadran said Wednesday that the explosion killed five civilians and that “a number of others were wounded” near the ministry.
The Daesh news outlet Aamaq said the attack coincided with a ministry training course for diplomats.
The extremists have increased their assaults since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021. Targets have included Taliban patrols and members of the country’s Shiite minority.
After Wednesday’s attack, more than 40 wounded people were brought to a surgical center in Kabul run by Emergency NGO, a humanitarian organization. Stefano Sozza, Emergency’s director in Afghanistan, said at the time that he expected the number of casualties to rise.
The attack drew condemnation from the United Nations and various countries. In a statement Wednesday, Pakistan said it stood in solidarity with Afghans in the fight against militants.
Daesh claims responsibility for Kabul attack that killed 5
https://arab.news/4e62h
Daesh claims responsibility for Kabul attack that killed 5
- Daesh in a statement says that a “martyrdom-seeker” detonated an explosive vest amid a gathering of ministry employees and guards as they left through the ministry’s main gate
Trump says he’s dropping push for National Guard in Chicago, LA and Portland, Oregon, for now
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said he’s dropping — for now — his push to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, a move that comes after legal roadblocks hung up the effort.
Trump said in a social media post Wednesday that he’s removing the Guard troops for now. “We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again — Only a question of time!” he wrote.
Troops had already left Los Angeles after the president deployed them earlier this year as part of a broader crackdown on crime and immigration. They had been sent to Chicago and Portland but were never on the streets as legal challenges played out.
Trump’s push to deploy the troops in Democrat-led cities has been met with legal challenges at nearly every turn.
The Supreme Court in December refused to allow the Trump administration to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area as part of its crackdown on immigration. The order was not a final ruling but was a significant and rare setback by the high court for the president’s efforts.
In the nation’s capital, District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued to halt the deployments of more than 2,000 guardsmen.
In Oregon, a federal judge permanently blocked the deployment of National Guard troops there.
California National Guard troops had already been removed from the streets of Los Angeles by Dec. 15 after a court ruling. But an appeals court had paused a separate part of the order that required control of the Guard to return to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
In a Tuesday court filing, the Trump administration said it was no longer seeking a pause in that part of the order. That paves the way for the California National Guard troops to fully return to state control after Trump federalized the Guard in June.
