The Taliban have claimed continuously in the past two years that overall security in Afghanistan has been ensured. The group asserts to have subdued the ISIS Khorasan (IS-K). However, in recent days, several suicide attacks and explosions have occurred in Afghanistan, with some being attributed to the ISIS group. In the latest incident, yesterday, a suicide bomber attempted to detonate himself in the vicinity of the Taliban governor’s office in Nimruz province. However, Taliban fighters intervened, resulting in the injury of three of their forces during the exchange, where the would-be bomber was thwarted.
Around 12:54 PM yesterday in the city of Zaranj, there was confirmation of a suicide attack and armed confrontation. A suicide attacker, after bypassing two Taliban checkpoints, approached the governor’s office building. It is reported that the suicide attacker intended to detonate himself during a meeting where Mohammad Qasim Khalid, the Taliban governor, was present with several leaders of the group for the midday. However, before reaching the target, he was repelled by the governor’s guards.
Local sources confirm that during the confrontation between the suicide attacker and the Taliban fighters, three Taliban forces were injured.
Nevertheless, some sources suggest that the suicide attacker’s entry into the Nimruz Provincial Government building, bypassing multiple Taliban checkpoints, indicates internal disagreements within the Taliban. According to sources, there were two suicide attackers, one of whom detonated himself, while information about the fate of the second attacker is still unknown.
According to one source, the suicide attacker who detonated himself inside the Nimruz Provincial Government building had passed through two Taliban inspection points with the guidance of an accomplice. He became a target for Taliban security forces.
A Taliban source in Nimruz confirms that the suicide attacker was also armed with a firearm and was less than 20 years old. According to this source, after identifying the heightened security of Taliban forces, the attacker opened fire but detonated himself before reaching his target. As a result, in addition to the governor’s secretary, one of his guards was also injured.
This suicide attack occurred in front of the Taliban governor’s office at a time when senior officials of the group have previously been targeted in suicide attacks by the ISIS Khorasan (IS-K).
Earlier, Mohammad Dawood Muzammil, one of the top commanders of the Taliban and a close associate of the group’s supreme leader was killed in his office due to a bomb explosion. He, too, was targeted during an administrative meeting.
It is noteworthy that while the Taliban claim to have ensured overall security in Afghanistan, two explosive attacks occurred in the provinces of Kabul and Balkh last week, resulting in multiple casualties. According to the Kabul Security Command of the Taliban, in the explosion in the Dasht-e Barchi area of Kabul, five individuals were killed, and another 15 were wounded.
Taliban officials are now facing suicide bombings, reminiscent of similar attacks used against officials in the previous government during the past two decades.