The Taliban’s acting minister of refugees and repatriation, Khalil Haqqani, was killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul on Wednesday.
Haqqani, a senior member of the powerful Haqqani network and uncle of the Taliban’s interior minister and senior leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, was handling the refugee crisis in Afghanistan.
He was killed on Wednesday in a suicide attack inside the ministry, Taliban officials said, confirming the death of a senior figure in the hardline Islamist regime of Afghanistan. The blast took place when Haqqani was leaving after the noon prayers.
At least three of Haqqani’s bodyguards were killed and eight others wounded in the suicide bombing, officials said.
His death was described as a great loss by the Taliban’s chief spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid who called him a “tireless holy warrior who spent his life defending Islam”.
He is the most high-profile casualty of a bombing in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. Haqqani was last seen in a meeting on Wednesday morning with deputy prime minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
The Taliban security personnel prohibited filming and photography and blocked the road leading to the blast site. However, an unverified video showed several of the leaders gathering around to pay tribute to Haqqani. The Independent has not verified the authenticity of the video.
The suicide attack was claimed by the Isis on its Aamaq website.
The Haqqani network is a Taliban-affiliated group of militants that operates from the Pakistan and Afghanistan region and has close ties to the Taliban leadership in Kabul, with many in ministerial roles in the country after Nato withdrawal. The Haqqani network is also close to the al-Qaeda leadership after the assassination of Osama Bin Laden.
According to the US rewards for justice, Haqqani carried a bounty reward of $5m for being part of the US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation. He was accused of fundraising on behalf of the Taliban and providing support to the Taliban operating in Afghanistan after 2001.
The US designated Haqqani as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2011.
Last month, Haqqani had condemned neighbouring countries for mistreating Afghanistan refugees and urged them to not expel Afghans seeking refuge outside of the Taliban-led country.
He also issued a plea to fleeing Afghans to return to the country under the Taliban, claiming that their hardline Islamic rule of Sharia will be used to govern them and that “security is established”.
Experts pointed to the timing of Haqqani’s killing inside his ministry, challenging the security claimed by the group.
The attack came days after Sirajuddin Haqqani gave a contentious speech criticising the Taliban leader for his authoritarian decision-making – exposing cracks in the ties between the two power groups.
The timing could fuel speculation that the suicide bombing was an inside job, said Ibraheem Bahiss, an analyst with Crisis Group’s South Asia programme. But he added that a civil war among the Taliban is not expected.
