A terrorist attack on a market causes several deaths and 28 wounded in eastern Afghanistan | International

At least two people were killed and 28 others wounded, including five members of the Taliban security forces, in an attack on Monday with an explosive device attached to a vehicle in eastern Afghanistan. The explosion occurred when the vehicle, where authorities of the Taliban regime were traveling, was circulating near a market in Shirgar, in the Ghani Khil district, according to Hafiz Abdul Basir Zabuli, spokesman for the Nangarhar province Police, where the explosion occurred. event.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemned the attack, the third in the country since last Friday. They also posted a message on their Twitter account: “Continued targeted attacks against civilians throughout Afghanistan must cease immediately.”

Quriashi Badloun, the Taliban regime’s media and information chief in Nangarhar, confirmed that an explosion had occurred, but said the target of the attack was still unclear. At first, this spokesman confirmed a dozen injured, a figure later raised by the Nangarhar Police.

For the moment, no armed group has claimed responsibility for the attack, although Nangarhar has been regularly recognized as the main stronghold in Afghanistan of the Islamic State jihadist group, which has emerged as the main threat to the stability of the country after the return to power of the taliban

Since they took power in August 2021, the Taliban maintain that security in the country has improved and that their administration has protected the country from threats from jihadist groups. However, international officials and analysts affirm that the risk of a resurgence of insurgent activity continues to exist. The local branch of the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for various attacks in recent months, including the one directed at a temple of the minority of Hindu Sikh origin, last Saturday in the capital, Kabul. According to Afghan authorities, at least two people were killed and seven were injured in the attack.

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In one of its Telegram channels, the local jihadist branch of the Islamic State (ISKP, in its acronym in English) defined that attack as a response to insults directed at the Prophet Muhammad, in what seems to allude to some offensive comments made earlier of the month by two members of the Hindu nationalist party BJP, currently in the Government of India, who have drawn condemnation from several Islamic countries.

The terrorist organization claimed that the attack on the Sikh temple was carried out by a kamikaze who stormed the place of worship on Saturday morning after killing the guard, armed with a machine gun and hand grenades. The United Nations considers that the event is part of a series of attacks that have targeted religious minorities in Afghanistan. The United Nations mission called for protection for all minorities in a statement released the same day as the attack.

A day earlier, another explosion took place at a Sufi mosque in the northern city of Kunduz. In that attack, one person died and two were injured, the Taliban regime reported. The Islamic State regards the Taliban as heretics and accuses them of having departed from the orthodoxy of sharia or Islamic law, and defend an even more rigorous interpretation of the Muslim religion.

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