Blast kills at least six people in Afghan capital, 13 wounded

Explosion takes place in southern Kabul area of Qala-e-Bakhtiar, and no group has claimed responsibility so far.

An explosion in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, has killed at least six people, the police and Ministry of Interior Affairs say.

“This afternoon, a person wearing explosives on his body detonated,” Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran posted on X on Monday.

“Unfortunately six civilians, including a woman, were killed and 13 others were injured,” he added.

Zadran said the attack took place in the Qala-e-Bakhtiar area of southern Kabul, adding that an investigation is under way.

No group has claimed responsibility so far.

Violence has waned in Afghanistan since the 2021 Taliban takeover, which ended a two-decade war that included foreign forces.

But the ISIL (ISIS) affiliate in Khorasan Province remains active and has regularly targeted civilians, foreigners and Taliban officials with gun and bomb attacks. The group is the largest security threat in Afghanistan and has frequently also targeted Shia communities.

The most notorious ISIL-linked attack since the Taliban takeover was in 2022 when at least 53 people – including 46 girls and young women – were slain in a suicide bombing at an education centre in a Shia neighbourhood of Kabul.

The last suicide attack in Afghanistan claimed by the regional chapter of ISIL was in the southern city of Kandahar – the Taliban’s historic stronghold – in March.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the AFP news agency last month that ISIL “existed” in the country before but the Taliban “suppressed them very hard”.

“No such groups exist here that can pose a threat to anyone,” he said.