The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a suicide explosion that killed at least 13 people and injured 30 others at a memorial service in northeast Afghanistan.
In a statement released late Friday, the IS regional affiliate known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province claimed the attack occurred Thursday near the Nabawi Mosque in Badakhshan province’s Faizabad city.
The militant group’s statement supplied higher casualty estimates than the Taliban-run government, alleging that at least 20 senior Taliban officials were killed and 50 others were wounded.
Suicide explosion during a memorial event in northeast Afghanistan
The memorial service was conducted for Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, the deputy governor of Badakhshan who was slain on Tuesday in Faizabad in a car bombing. This attack, which murdered the chauffeur of the deputy governor and injured ten others, was also claimed by the Islamic State.
A former Taliban police official was among those slain in the detonation at the memorial service, according to Abdul Nadai Takor, spokesman for the Taliban interior ministry.
Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, following the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces after two decades of conflict, Islamic State attacks have increased. Targets have included Taliban patrols and members of the Shia minority in Afghanistan.
In December of 2012, the provincial police superintendent of Badakhshan was murdered on his way to work by a vehicle bomb. IS claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that it had parked an explosive-laden vehicle on the road and detonated it when the police chief’s vehicle passed.