Taliban's refugees minister killed in Kabul blast, nephew says

People stage a protest against atrocities committed against Afghan refugees in Iran and called on the Taliban to clarify its positioning in Iran, in Khost, Afghanistan on April 11, 2022 [Sardar Shafaq – Anadolu Agency]

Afghanistan’s acting Minister for Refugees, Khalil Rahman Haqqani, and six other people were killed in an explosion in the capital Kabul today, Reuters reported his nephew saying.

The Taliban spokesperson said in a statement that Khalil Haqqani had been killed by the Daesh, who did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack.

Haqqani became a minister in the Taliban’s interim government after foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021.

“We lost a very brave Mujahid,” his nephew Anas Haqqani told Reuters, using the Taliban’s term for its fighters. “We will never forget him and his sacrifice.”

He said the blast took place as Haqqani was leaving a mosque after afternoon prayers.

Ishaq Dar, the foreign minister of neighbouring Pakistan, said in a statement he was “shocked” by the attack.

“Pakistan unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” he said.

READ: Russia has decided ‘at highest level’ to remove Taliban from terrorist list, TASS reports

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