Eight killed at Taliban funeral in bomb attack blamed on IS offshoot

A bomb attack on the funeral of the Taliban spokesman’s mother yesterday killed at least eight people in an apparent escalation of the Islamic State’s feud with Afghanistan’s new rulers.

Eyewitnesses heard an explosion followed by gunfire at the Eid Gah Mosque in Kabul. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said “a number of civilians” died in the blast, which struck near the entrance of the mosque.

The funeral was being held for Mr Mujahid’s mother, and had been posted on social media as one where “all people and friends are invited to attend”.

The mosque is less than a kilometre from the defence ministry and the presidential palace. Journalist Bilal-Sarwary tweeted that it was a “major security and intelligence failure” for the Taliban.

Mr Mujahid, whose true identity was kept a secret until the Taliban takeover, recently told a newspaper that he joined the Taliban at 16 and lived in Kabul “under the nose” of American soldiers.

He has been the face of the Taliban’s takeover to the outside world, leading early press conferences promising the movement had changed since its brutal 1990s regime.

Many of his early pledges, including on women’s rights, have not been implemented.

Taliban officials said he had been inside the mosque but was unharmed. Twitter yesterday suspended Mr Mujahid’s account, citing “unusual activity”.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bomb, though analysts suspect the Islamic State offshoot, Islamic State in Khorasan Province (IS-K).

“In what seems likely to be the latest escalation of #ISKP’s campaign against the #Taliban, someone has just bombed the funeral of the mother of #Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in #Kabul,” tweeted Charlie Winter, at security firm ExTrac.

IS-K has feuded for years with the Taliban over influence in Afghanistan.

It was responsible for a suicide bomb attack in Kabul in August during the evacuation of civilians, which killed at least 180 people including US and Taliban soldiers. Hostilities have escalated in the past fortnight with IS-K claiming several attacks in eastern Nangarhar, where it retains a strong presence.

On Friday, the Taliban raided an IS hideout north of Kabul in Parwan province, after an IS-K road-bomb wounded four of its fighters. A recent UN report found IS-K had “between 500 and 1,200 fighters”, though experts say that could rise to 10,000 in the coming years.

The US security think tank the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said IS-K carried out around 100 attacks on civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan between 2015 and 2017.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Taliban set up a 200m perimeter around the mosque, while later in the afternoon some Taliban members were seen praying in the security area.

A Taliban fighter said: “One woman in a burqa came and suddenly there was a blast. I fell unconscious. I don’t know if it was her or maybe some other suicide bomber. When I regained consciousness, I saw that my friend had lost both of his legs.”

Mohammad Israil, a Kabul resident, said he heard “a loud sound” and saw people running away.

An Italian-funded emergency hospital in Kabul tweeted it had received four people wounded in the blast.

The area around the mosque was cordoned off by the Taliban, who maintained a heavy security presence. Later in the afternoon the site was cleaned. The only sign of the blast was slight damage to the ornamental arch by the entrance gate.

Yesterday’s attack is the first to target the capital since late August when an IS suicide bomber targeted American evacuation efforts outside Kabul’s international airport. The blast killed 169 Afghans and 13 US service members and was of the deadliest attacks in the country in years.

(© Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2021)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]