Graphic shows factfile of Islamic State Khorasan.
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Explosies luchthaven Kabul – wie is IS-K?

By Jordi Bou

August 26, 2021 - The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan – known as Islamic State Khorasan or IS-K – is the most extreme and violent of all the jihadist militant groups operating in the country.

Islamic State Khorasan group – also known as ISIS-K – claimed responsibility for the deadly suicide attacks outside Kabul airport that killed at least 90 people, including 13 U.S. soldiers, and left dozens injured.

IS-K said its suicide bombers singled out “translators and collaborators with the American army” in the attacks on Thursday evening.

IS-K was formed by disaffected fighters from Pakistani Taliban, following the creation in 2014 of a caliphate in Iraq and Syria by the so-called Islamic State group.

IS-K is said to have around 1,500-2,000 fighters in Nuristan, Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, with cells across Afghanistan, including Kabul.

The group is headed since Jun 2020 by Shahab al-Muhajir. The ISIS-K founding emir, Hafiz Saeed Khan, was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2016.

IS criticises the Taliban’s version of Islamic rule as insufficiently hard line, and denounces their deal with the U.S. over troop withdrawals.

IS-K was responsible for 77 attacks in Afghanistan in the first four months of this year – up from 21 in the same period in 2020, according to the UN. The school bombing in Kabul in May 2021, killed 80 schoolgirls.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 27/08/2021; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: IS propaganda image
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