Afghan Taliban's refugees minister killed in Kabul blast, nephew says

By Mohammad Yunus Yawar and Mushtaq Ali

KABUL (Reuters) - The Afghan Taliban's acting minister for refugees, Khalil Rahman Haqqani, and six other people were killed in an explosion in the capital Kabul on Wednesday, his nephew said.

The Taliban spokesperson said in a statement that Khalil Haqqani had been killed by the Islamic State militant group, who did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack.

Khalil Haqqani became a minister in the Taliban's interim government after foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021. He was a senior leader of the Haqqani network, a militant faction blamed for major attacks during the 20-year war, according to the U.S. State Department.

"We lost a very brave Mujahid," his nephew Anas Haqqani told Reuters, using the Taliban's term for its fighters, meaning holy warrior. "We will never forget him and his sacrifice."

He said the blast took place as Khalil Haqqani was leaving a mosque after afternoon prayers.

Ishaq Dar, the foreign minister of neighbouring Pakistan, said in a statement he was "shocked" by the attack.

"Pakistan unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations," he said.

The Taliban took over Afghanistan in 2021 as foreign forces withdrew, vowing to restore security, but attacks have continued in urban areas.

In 2022, a blast took place near the interior ministry, led by Haqqani network leader Sirajuddin Haqqani, killing four people. In 2023, Islamic State claimed an attack outside the Taliban-run foreign ministry that killed at least five.

Washington classified Khalil Haqqani, who Taliban members said was in his 50s, as a "global terrorist" in 2011 and offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest.

(Reporting by Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar, Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul and Charlotte Greenfield in Islamabad; editing by Mark Heinrich and Ros Russell)