At least twelve people were killed Wednesday, May 25, in Afghanistan in four bomb attacks: three against minibuses in Mazar-i-Sharif (North), claimed by the Islamic State (IS) and one against a mosque in the capital Kabul, according to the authorities. 

In Mazar-i-Sharif, the major northern city, "the bombs were planted in three minibuses in different parts of the city," Balkh provincial police spokesman Asif told AFP. Waziri.

At least ten people died and about fifteen others were injured, according to the police and the health services.

The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group claimed responsibility for the attacks in the evening.

"Caliphate soldiers detonated two bombs placed on two buses... and a third bomb on a third bus," ISIS said via its Telegram channels.

In Kabul, another bomb attack targeted a mosque in the evening, killing at least two people and injuring ten others;

the bomb had been planted inside a fan in the mosque, the interior ministry said. 

A security challenge for the Taliban

The number of attacks has declined in the country since the Taliban took power in August, but a series of deadly bomb attacks, in which dozens of people were killed, hit the country in late April, during the holy month of Ramadan.

Some of the attacks claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State (IS), had targeted in particular the Shiite Hazara minority, considered heretical by IS.

The Taliban are trying to minimize the threat from the Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K), the regional branch of ISIS, and are waging a ruthless fight against the group, which they have been fighting for years.

They multiplied raids, particularly in the eastern province of Nangarhar, and arrested hundreds of men accused of being part of it.

The Islamic State organization has been claiming to have defeated ISIS for several months, but analysts believe that the extremist group is still the main security challenge for the new Afghan power.

With AFP

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