ugc_banner

Islamic State claims responsibility for attack on Afghan ministry

WION Web Team
New Delhi, Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Apr 21, 2019, 08:13 PM IST
main img
An Afghan policeman keeps watch from the back of a truck. Photograph:(Reuters)

Story highlights

Four IS jihadists detonated explosives near the ministry, then entered and 'battled Afghan security forces with machine guns and hand grenades for numerous hours', the group said.

The Islamic State (IS) group on Sunday claimed responsibility for the attack that killed at least 10 people in Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Saturday, news agency AFP reported.

The attack on the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) started at around mid-day and ended after a five-hour exchange of gunfire and explosions on Saturday, news agency Reuters reported.  

Four IS jihadists detonated explosives near the ministry, then entered and "battled Afghan security forces with machine guns and hand grenades for numerous hours", the group said in a statement on its social media channels.

Seven civilians and three members of the security forces died in the attack, the interior ministry said.

Around 2,000 people were rescued from inside the communications ministry.

The Afghan affiliate of Islamic State, sometimes known as Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) after an old name for the region that includes Afghanistan, has been active in the country since 2015, fighting the Taliban as well as Afghan and US forces.