Afghanistan Times
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KABUL: The Islamic State terrorist group has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing on a memorial service near a mosque in Badakhshan province on Thursday that killed 15 people and wounded 30 others.
In a statement late on Friday, the Islamic State Khorasan branch said the attacker targeted the memorial service near Nabawi mosque in Faizabad city in Badakhshan province on Thursday, claiming at least 20 senior Taliban officials were killed and 50 others were injured.
The memorial service was being held for Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, the deputy governor of Badakhshan killed in a car bombing on Tuesday in Faizabad. That attack, which killed the deputy governor’s driver and wounded 10 others, was also claimed by the Islamic State group.
A former Taliban police official was among those killed in the memorial service explosion, said the Taliban interior ministry spokesman, Abdul Nafi Takor.
The Islamic State group has increased its attacks in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover of the country in August 2021, following the withdrawal of US and NATO troops after two decades of war.
Targets have included Taliban patrols and members of Afghanistan’s Shiite minority.
Last December, a car bombing killed Badakhshan’s provincial police chief as he was on his way to work. IS claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it parked an explosive-laden car on the road and detonated it when the police chief’s car passed by.
