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Suicide bomb kills Taliban minister in Kabul
Taliban refugee minister Khalil Haqqani has been killed in a suicide bombing inside the interior ministry in Kabul, the movement’s most high profile casualty since it returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
Six others died in the blast as Haqqani was leaving his office, interior ministry sources said.
Khalil Haqqani was a top member of a powerful faction in the Taliban called the Haqqani network, and was designated a global terrorist by the US.
The Islamic State group (IS) later claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to a report issued by IS’s “news agency” Amaq, an IS militant waited outside the minister’s office and detonated explosives as he walked out.
A Taliban spokesperson confirmed that Haqqani was killed by IS, Reuters news agency reported.
Khalil Haqqani’s brother Jalaluddin was a famous guerrilla leader who fought Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and founded the Haqqani network which was behind many attacks during the Taliban’s 20-year insurgency.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, the minister’s nephew and son of Jalaluddin, is the current interior minister in the Taliban government.
While the overall security situation in Afghanistan has improved since the Taliban gained complete control with the full withdrawal of foreign troops in 2021, there continue to be dozens of bombings and suicide attacks in the country each year.
Many have been claimed by Islamic State Khorasan Province or ISKP, the regional affiliate of the so-called Islamic State group, a major rival of the Taliban.
(BBC)
After months of threats and pressure tactics, the United States has bombed Venezuela and toppled its president, Nicolas Maduro, who was seized and taken to New York, where he will be put on trial.
Maduro arrived on Saturday evening at a military base in the US after his “capture” by US forces in Caracas.
Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has slammed the “kidnapping” of Maduro and said that he is “the only president of Venezuela”.
US President Donald Trump says the “,US will run Venezuela and tap its vast oil reserves, but he gave few details on how the US will do this.
The United Nations Security Council is due to meet today (Monday) on the matter, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saying the US actions set “a dangerous precedent”.
(Aljazeera)
Latest News
President Trump says the US has ‘captured’ Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and flown them out of the country
President Donald Trump says the United States has ‘captured’ Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and flown them out of the country after “large-scale” strikes.
Earlier, Venezuela’s government accused the US of attacking civilian and military installations in multiple states, as it rejected “military aggression” by Washington. The government of President Maduro had declared a national emergency following the series of attacks.
The attacks came after months of tension with the US, which has accused Venezuelan President Maduro of being involved in drug trafficking. Maduro has denied the accusations.
On Thursday, Maduro indicated he was open to negotiating a deal with the US to combat drug trafficking. The US has carried out more than 20 air strikes in the sea near Venezuela since September, as it slapped sanctions and upped military pressure on Caracas.
(Aljazeera)
The United States Coast Guard has said it has suspended its search for survivors days after the US military said it struck two more boats in the eastern Pacific amid its ongoing military campaign in waters in and around Venezuela.
In a statement shared on its website on Friday, the Coast Guard said the three-day search had been focused on water “approximately 400 nautical miles [about 740km] southwest of the Mexico/Guatemala border” and had continued for more than 65 hours, but that no sightings of survivors had been reported.
(Aljazeera)
Venezuela’s Maduro arrives in New York after ‘capture’
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