Islamic State group claims suicide bombing of Afghan bank

KABUL (AFP): The Islamic State group claimed Wednesday a suicide bombing of a bank in north Afghanistan which killed five people a day earlier, saying it was targeting Taliban government employees collecting salaries.

Violence has waned in Afghanistan since the Taliban surged back to power and ended their insurgency in 2021, but the Islamic State (IS) group frequently stages gun and bomb attacks challenging their rule.

On Tuesday police in the northern city of Kunduz said a suicide attack in front of a bank killed five people — including civil servants — and wounded seven others.

The IS propaganda wing said Wednesday a “suicide bomber” had “detonated his explosive vest” as “Taliban militia members gathered outside a public bank to collect their salaries”.

The group previously claimed responsibility for a similar bombing in March 2024, outside a bank in the southern city of Kandahar — considered the spiritual heartland of the Taliban movement.

IS said it had targeted “Taliban militia” members outside the bank. Taliban authorities said only three people had been killed in last year’s incident, but a hospital source put fatalities far higher at 20.

The Taliban government has declared security its highest priority since returning to power and analysts say they have had some success quashing IS with a sweeping crackdown.

But the group remains active — targeting Taliban officials, visitors from abroad, and foreign diplomats.

There are frequently discrepancies between the casualty tolls given by Taliban authorities and those reported by officials on the ground, and attack sites are routinely shut down by security forces.

In December, Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing which killed the Taliban’s government minister for refugees, Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani, in the capital Kabul.