Islamic State-Khorasan Claims Responsibility for Kabul Bombings

A double suicide bombing late  in the Afghani capital of Kabul has left over 20 dead and 70 injured. The Wednesday explosions tore through a wrestling hall in the Shiite majority Dascht-e-Barchi neighborhood, home to the Hazra minority group. The first bomb was detonated by a suicide bomber inside the complex and the second bomb, hidden inside a car, targeted survivors, journalists, and first responders an hour later. Islamic State-Khorasan (ISIS-K), the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) branch operating in Afghanistan, has claimed responsibility for the attack through its Amaq News Network.

This latest attack might have been motivated by the recent drone strike of leader Abu Sayeed Orakzai. The US has been particularly successful in targeting the leadership of ISIS-K in the last few years, having killed previous leaders Abu Sayed and Hafiz Sayed Khan. However, these strikes have not curtailed ISIS-K’s ability to strike at the Afghani government.  In June, the group claimed responsibility for the assassination attempt on Vice President Rashid Dostum at the Kabul International Airport. ISIS-K is also engaged in conflict with the Taliban. The ceasefire the Taliban signed with the government in June has not delivered on its expectations to bring short-term stability to Afghanistan, and any rancor between the two terror groups could have deadly consequences for civilians.

ISIL first gained international notoriety for its sleek and highly stylized propaganda videos depicting execution and torture. Shiite’s are viewed by ISIS as apostates, and brutality against them has become a trademark of ISIS’s conduct. This is not the first the Shia majority district that has been targeted. In August, a suicide attack on an education center resulted in the death or injury of 107 students. The fall of Mosul in 2014 resulted in the capture, massacre, and ransom of Shiites and another minorities such as Turkmans, Yazidis, Christians, and Shabaks. In 2016, Secretary of State John Kerry labeled ISIS’ actions as genocidal.

Today, ISIS’s current situation in their original base of operations is dire. Relentless attacks by the US and other regional forces have massively reduced its command and control capabilities in this area. It lost its last city after a failed final stand in the Iraqi city of Raqqa in October of 2017. Because of this, other regional ISIS affiliates, such as ISIS-K, have grown and substantially increased their activity.

The group will continue to remain a security threat in the region and, as Wednesday’s bombings demonstrate, it is still capable of small scale attacks and serious violence.