Taliban kill 2 Islamic State militants in Kabul operation
Kabul, Feb 14 (EFE).- The Taliban said Tuesday at least two Islamic State militants were killed in an overnight counter-insurgency operation in the Afghan capital city.
A Taliban police spokesperson said the security forces busted a militant hideout in the Kart-e-now area of Kabul on Monday night where several Islamic State fighters, including foreigners, were meeting.
Police officer Abu Salama said the operation lasted about three hours as the Taliban security forces exercised restraint before evacuating civilians from the area.
“At least two persons were killed, and one was detained. The death toll may rise as more bodies could be buried under the debris of the collapsed house,” Salama told EFE.
Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted that the counter-insurgency operation involved “an important hideout of the” global militant network.
“The operation proceeded cautiously since the area is densely populated,” Mujahid said.
He said the group of Islamic State militants included those involved in recent attacks in Kabul. “Some foreign nationals were among them.”
The Taliban accused the Islamic State of carrying out some of the deadliest attacks in the country in recent months.
Despite the end of the war in the country after the withdrawal of international troops and the Taliban’s rise to power in August last year, Afghanistan has witnessed some of the most violent attacks in the past nearly 20 months.
Most of these attacks were claimed by the Islamic State, which has become the main threat to Afghanistan’s security.
At least five people were killed and several injured in a bombing outside the Foreign Ministry in Kabul on Jan.11 this year.
Several people were killed on Jan.1 when an Islamic State suicide bomber entered the military zone of Kabul airport and blew himself up, even as the Taliban government did not provide an official death toll.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack in December that killed three members of the Taliban’s security forces, including a police commander, in northeastern Afghanistan.
On Dec.12, the militant group attacked a hotel frequented by Chinese citizens in Kabul, in which three assailants lost their lives, and 18 people suffered injuries.
The Taliban have conducted several raids against the militant network in various parts of the country to fulfill the security guarantees they had made before coming to power. EFE
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