The Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) has claimed responsibility for the suicide blast at a Taliban security checkpoint outside of the military section of the Kabul airport on Sunday, marking the first attack of the New Year.
Graphic! At the beginning of 2023, a deadly car bomb attack at the entrance of the Kabul military airport targeted the Taliban. In this video, some people have fallen on the ground. Some statistics show that ten Taliban forces and five civilians were killed. pic.twitter.com/qFIAkcVFKH
— Tajuden Soroush (@TajudenSoroush) January 1, 2023
According to Taliban officials, the blast occurred shortly before 0800 local time, which left at least 14 people dead and another 18 wounded. While the Taliban has confirmed that its fighters are among the casualties, an exact number remains unknown. Journalist Gurbaksh Singh Chahal, citing local contacts, reported that four fighters were killed while security analyst Faran Jeffery (NatSecJeff), also citing local contacts, put the number at about a dozen.
ISKP claimed responsibility for yesterday's attack on Taliban at Kabul airport. This group says that more than 50 Taliban were killed & wounded in this attack. According to ISKP, the suicide bomber was also involved in the attack on the Chinese hotel & got out of the hotel alive. pic.twitter.com/wUCKXBncKA
— Natiq Malikzada (@natiqmalikzada) January 2, 2023
ISKP claimed responsibility for the attack later in the day, saying that the bomber was a surviving militant from last month’s attack against the Kabul Longan Hotel who managed to escape. A photo released of the militant from yesterday’s bombing matches that of a militant shown to be involved in the hotel attack, which targeted Chinese nationals. If this is true, it negates the Taliban’s claims that it killed all militants involved in the attack. Exact casualty amounts from the attack remain unclear, as the Taliban and Chinese officials have been accused of trying to cover up the true amount.
