By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
January 1, 2023
Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities say that several people were killed or injured in an explosion on the morning of January 1 at a military airport adjacent to Kabul International Airport.
The spokesman for Kabul’s security operations, Khalid Zadra, told RFE/RL that “a number of our compatriots were martyred or injured” in the suspected bomb blast and that an investigation into the incident had been launched. Zadra did not provide specific casualty figures.
Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor also said that several people had been killed or injured, without giving exact figures.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, the country has been targeted by Islamic State-Khorasan, an offshoot of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.
On December 27, IS claimed responsibility for an attack in Afghanistan’s northern Badakhshan Province that killed a key Taliban security official.
An armed anti-Taliban resistance movement known as the National Resistance Front has been active in the country’s north.
The military airport struck on January 1 lies about 200 meters from Kabul International Airport and is also close to the Interior Ministry compound. The Interior Ministry building was targeted in a suicide bombing in October in which at least four people were killed.
Other high-security government ministries, as well as foreign embassies and the presidential palace, are located along Airport Road, as is the military airport.
Reports indicated that the military airport was damaged but intact, and that Taliban security forces had cordoned off the area and were preventing photos or video from being taken of the site.
With reporting by AP and dpa