Taliban raid on ISIS hideout, kill 8 and capture 9 militants

Asia-Pacific, News January 6, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

Afghan Taliban have claimed to kill eight members of the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group and arrested nine others in a series of raids. The Taliban government claims that militants were involved in an attack on a Chinese hotel in Kabul.

According to Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, two separate operations were conducted in Kabul and western Nimrouz during which the Taliban forces targeted the ISIS hideouts, killing at least eight terrorists, and arrested nine members of the group.

Mujahid added that the targeted IS militants had organized recent attacks on the Chinese Longan Hotel, Pakistan’s embassy, and a military airport in Kabul.

Mujahid said light weapons, hand grenades, mines, vests, and explosives were confiscated by the Taliban’s security forces during the raids on an IS hideout in the Shahdai Salehin neighborhood of Kabul city. Local residents reported sounds of several explosions and an hours-long gun battle between the two groups.

All eight IS members, including some foreign nationals were killed while seven were arrested in the raid in Kabul. A separate raid in Nimrouz resulted in two more IS arrests. “These members had a main role in the attack on the Chinese hotel and paved the way for foreign IS members to come to Afghanistan,” Mujahid said in a tweet.

The Taliban swept across the country in August 2021, seizing power as U.S. and NATO forces were in the last weeks of their final withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war. ISIS regional affiliate group, known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, ISIS has emerged as the largest rival and potent enemy of the Taliban. The group has increased its attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover and its targets have included Taliban patrols and members of Afghanistan’s Shiite minority.

For a long time, ISIS had been targeting the minority Shia Hazara community in Afghanistan. Their focus now seems to be shifting toward the Taliban. The two groups have engaged in bloody battles on several occasions during the last year.

*^{Taliban has conducted a series of raids targeting key figures involved in a spate of attacks in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Image Credit: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)}*

A number of bombings in Afghanistan have taken place since the Taliban took control in August 2021, and Islamic State has claimed the responsibility for most of such attacks. In April last year, a deadly attack on a mosque in the northern Afghan city of Mizar-i-Sharif left 16 people dead and several injured.

The ISIS also claimed responsibility for the attack which targeted Afghanistan’s Shia Hazara Community. The bomb hit the mosque as worshipers were praying during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. At least 21 people were killed and 33 injured after a huge blast at a mosque in Afghanistan’s capital city in August 2022.

The Taliban forces have been making frequent raids to capture the Islamic State members and leaders who are spread throughout the country. Taliban officials insist that they have managed to contain and defeat the Islamic State, however, the group still remains one of the key challenges that the Taliban administration is currently facing.