Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, has claimed that the group’s special forces hit three hideouts of the Islamic State – Khurasan Province (ISKP) in a night raid carried out last night in the 5th, 6th, and 8th districts of Mazar-e-Sharif, capital city of the northern Balkh province.
“A number of them were killed, Mujahideen (Taliban forces) seized their weapons, and one Mujahid (Taliban) was wounded,” the Taliban spokesman detailed about the group’s overnight operation against the ISKP referring to it by its local acronym Daesh.
Three other sources also confirmed to KabulNow that a firefight was kicked off around 01:00 AM on Saturday’s morning and lasted until 03:00 AM this morning in Dasht-e-Shor neighbourhood of Mazar-e-Sharif.
This comes after the ISKP claimed two latest deadly attacks in the city, including the one killed Taliban’s powerful governor for Balkh who was the group’s highest official to be killed since the group returned to power in August 2021.
Only two days after the attack on Taliban governor, an ISKP-claimed bombing killed three people, including two journalists and wounded 18 others in the same city.
A few months after the Taliban recaptured Afghanistan, the group claimed it has completely dismantled the ISKP, assuring the Afghan people and the international community that the terrorist group could no longer pose a serious threat to security in Afghanistan.
Contrary to the Taliban’s claim, the ISKP continued to conduct deadly attacks on civilians, mostly Hazara-Shia religious minority, diplomatic missions in Kabul, and the Taliban officials across the country.
