Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi announced on 22 October that the security forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) killed six members of the ISIS organization in an overnight operation carried out in the capital, Kabul.

Ahmadi said that the ISIS members were killed in a raid targeting their hideout, noting that they had been involved in two major attacks in recent weeks; one on a mosque in the city, and the other on an educational institute, which killed dozens of female students.

Over the past few months, the Afghan capital has been unstable due to terrorist bombings that have ravaged the city’s residents, especially places of worship and girls’ schools.

Afghan official Zabihullah Mujahid, another Taliban spokesperson, said that two ISIS fighters were captured in the IEA raid on the extremist group’s location in the capital.

Additionally, he revealed that several weapons, hand grenades, explosives, and a Japanese-made Toyota Corolla car were also seized during the operation.

According to Mujahid, One IEA security force member was killed and another wounded.

In early October, an explosion occurred near a girls’ school in the Khair Khana district, north of Kabul. A day before that, a huge blast targeted a school in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood of western Kabul, a predominantly Shia Hazara area. The blast left dozens dead and injured.

On 5 September, ISIS claimed responsibility for the terror attack on the Russian embassy, during which a suicide bomber targeted the entrance of the consular section of the embassy, killing two diplomats. 

The Afghan branch of ISIS, known as the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) is an enemy of the Taliban.

Members of the organization first appeared in eastern Afghanistan in 2014 and later carried out attacks in other regions.

The Taliban, accused of failing to protect minorities, is trying to downplay the attacks that pose a challenge to its regime.