Taliban: Bomb explosion at Kabul checkpoint kills and injures several people

A Taliban-led government spokesman said a bomb attack on a military airport checkpoint in the Afghan capital, Kabul, killed and injured several people.

Kabul, Afghanistan — A bomb exploded Sunday morning near a checkpoint at Kabul’s military airport killing and injuring “several” people, a Taliban official said, the first deadly explosion of 2023 in Afghanistan.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the regional affiliate of the Islamic State group – known as Islamic State in Khorasan province – has increased its attacks since the Taliban takeover in 2021. targets included Taliban patrols and members of the Afghan Shia minority. .

The military airport is about 200 meters from the civilian airport and close to the Interior Ministry, itself the site of a suicide bombing last October that killed at least four people.

Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor said the blast left several people dead and injured. He gave no exact figures or other information about the bombing, saying details of an investigation will be shared later.

Although Taliban security forces prevented photography and filming directly at the site of the explosion, the checkpoint appeared damaged but intact. It is on Airport Road, which leads to high-security quarters housing ministries, foreign embassies and the presidential palace.

A spokesman for Kabul Police Chief Khalid Zadran was not immediately available for comment.