Afghan Refugees & Repatriation Minister killed with PSO in suicide bombing

Kabul, Dec 11: Afghan Refugees & Repatriation Minister has been killed with his PSO among five victims in a suicide bombing on Wednesday.

Deceased Taliban’s R&R Minister is Khalil-Ur-Rahman Haqqani.

The slain minister was responsible for overseeing the repatriation and resettlement of Afghan refugees, primarily those being sent back from neighboring Pakistan and Iran. 

Taliban sources said that the afternoon “suicide" bombing occurred within the ministry building in the Afghan capital as Haqqani was exiting his office. Several other individuals were reportedly injured.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the assassination of the minister, which marks one of the most significant attacks on hardline Taliban leaders since they returned to power in August 2021.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid confirmed the “martyrdom” of Haqqani in the attack he blamed on “Khawarij,” a term the de facto rulers use to refer to Islamic State-Khorasan or IS-K, an Afghanistan-based Islamic State affiliate.

Mujahid did not provide further details about the incident, nor did he mention other casualties or the nature of the attack.

“This reprehensible act of cowardice, culminating in his martyrdom at the hands of the Khawarij [outsiders], will neither diminish the resolve of Muslims nor succeed in undermining the resilience of our robust Sharia-based governance,” he stated.

The elder Haqqani was considered a key member of the Haqqani network, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization headed by his nephew, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who serves as the de facto Taliban interior minister. He has a $10 million bounty on his head for his alleged terrorist activities.