File photo of Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid
Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Thursday said a network of Daesh militants involved in an attack on Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul last month has been killed in an operation.
On Dec. 2, militants opened fire on Chargé d’Affaires to Afghanistan Ubaidur Rehman Nizamani while he was walking within the embassy grounds. The envoy escaped the attack unscathed, but his guard was critically injured. The Islamic State-Khorasan group subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack, adding that its target had been the Pakistani envoy.
Reacting to the attack, Pakistan’s Foreign Office had demanded a thorough probe by the Afghan government aimed at apprehending the culprits and holding them to account. It had also sought urgent measures to ensure the safety and security of Pakistani diplomatic personnel and citizens in Afghanistan.
In a statement posted to Twitter, the Taliban spokesman said Afghan security forces had conducted multiple operations in Kabul against a “dangerous network” of Daesh that had been involved in attacks on the Pakistani embassy; a hotel housing Chinese nationals; and a bombing near a military airfield in Kabul; among others. Following the attack on the hotel on Dec. 12, Beijing had advised its citizens to leave Afghanistan over security concerns.
He said the operations targeted three hideouts of the militants—two in Kabul in the areas of Shuda-e-Saliheen and Qalacha, and one in the capital of Nimroz, Zaranj—noting these had been eliminated. In Wednesday’s operation, he continued, eight Daesh members were killed, including several foreigners.
The slain militants, claimed Mujahid, had planned more attacks on key targets. “They planned to bring Daesh members from other countries and launch coordinated attacks,” he said, adding small arms, hand grenades, landmines, suicide jackets and explosives were recovered from the Kabul hideout, and seven Daesh members arrested. Some suspects have also been taken into custody for questioning, he said.