Tight security for Taliban minister's funeral as Islamic State group claim deadly suicide attack

Khalil Haqqani’s funeral is Thursday afternoon in Garda Serai district, eastern Paktia province, which is the heartland of the Haqqani family. (Courtesy: Reuters file photo)

Tight security measures were in place Thursday for a Taliban minister's funeral in Afghanistan after he was killed in a suicide bombing claimed by an affiliate of the Islamic State group.

Cabinet member Khalil Haqqani was the most high-profile casualty of an assault in the country since the Taliban seized power three years ago.

He died in a blast Wednesday at the Ministry for Refugees and Repatriation in the capital, Kabul, along with several other victims. Officials have not given the latest toll for the dead and injured.

Haqqani is the uncle of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting interior minister and the leader of a powerful faction within the Taliban. The US placed a bounty on both their heads.

In a statement carried by the Amaq News Agency, the IS affiliate said one of its fighters carried out the suicide bombing. The fighter waited for Haqqani to leave his office and then detonated his device, according to the statement.

The minister’s funeral is Thursday afternoon in Garda Serai district, eastern Paktia province, which is the heartland of the Haqqani family.

Hamdullah Fitrat, the government’s deputy spokesman, said Thursday that top officials will attend and security measures are in place.

A video purportedly from the scene of the funeral showed a vast but empty patch of land with a row of guards and armored vehicles on one side. A fire truck is on standby.

The UN Mission in Afghanistan was among those to condemn the ministry attack. “There can be no place for terrorism in the quest for stability,” the mission said on the X platform.

The IS group's affiliate, a major rival of the ruling Taliban, has previously carried out bombings across Afghanistan.

But suicide attacks have become rare since the Taliban seized power in August 2021 and US and NATO forces withdrew. Such assaults have mostly targeted minority Shiite Muslims, especially in the capital.