Taliban forces killed a top Islamic State commander who allegedly plannedattacks against diplomatic missions in Afghanistan’s capital, a governmentofficial said.
Violence in Afghanistan dramatically dipped after the Taliban seized powerin August 2021.
But in the past year, security has worsened, with a spate of mass casualtyattacks claimed by Islamic State’s regional chapter.
Taliban forces killed Qari Fateh, the regional IS “intelligence andoperations chief”, during an operation on Sunday night, the Talibangovernment spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement on Monday.
Fateh “directly masterminded recent operations in Kabul, including againstdiplomatic missions, mosques and other targets”, Mujahid said.
One other IS member was killed in the operation against the cell, which wasbased in Kabul’s Khair Khana area, according to the statement.
Residents in that neighbourhood had reported loud gunfire on Sunday night.
Taliban officials posted footage on Twitter of two bodies lying in debris.
A United Nations Security Council report in July 2022 described Fateh as akey IS leader, charged with military operations in an area spanning India,Iran and Central Asia.
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IS has emerged as the biggest security challenge to Taliban rule, stagingattacks on foreigners, religious minorities and government institutions.
Both groups share an austere Sunni Islamist ideology, but IS is fighting toestablish a global “caliphate” whilst the Taliban have a moreinward-looking goal of ruling an independent Afghanistan.
IS claimed responsibility for a December gun raid on a Kabul hotel thatwounded five Chinese nationals.
Also in December, the group attacked the Pakistani embassy in Kabul.Islamabad described it as an “assassination attempt” on its ambassador.
And in January, the group claimed a suicide bombing near the foreignministry in Kabul that killed at least 10 people.
Two Russian embassy staff members were killed in a suicide bombing outsidetheir mission in September last year, another attack claimed by IS. APP/AFP
