FAIZABAD, Afghanistan: Three policemen were killed and five injured on Wednesday when a bomb exploded next to a security convoy tasked with clearing an illegal poppy crop in northeastern Afghanistan, said the interior ministry.
The Islamic State in Khorasan Province (IS-K), an offshoot of the Islamic State group operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack.
An improvised explosive device (IED) was attached to a motorcycle that targeted a convoy of police vehicles in Faizabad, the capital of the mountainous Badakhshan province, around 11 am (0630 GMT).
The bomb exploded when a convoy of police forces was on its way to destroy poppy cultivation, Taliban Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said on X, formerly Twitter.
IS-K said in the evening that it had targeted the Taliban with a “motorcycle bomb”.
The blast came days after security officials and Taliban residents clashed over the violent clearing of poppy crops in two districts of Badakhshan, leaving two dead and sparking rare protests.
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Afghanistan was the largest producer of opium before poppy cultivation was banned by a decree of the Taliban’s supreme leader in April 2022.
Farmers were encouraged to grow a variety of crops, but none rivaled the financial draw of the poppy,
Eyewitness Aminullah, who did not want to give his full name, said he heard a huge explosion and saw a convoy of Taliban officials hit.
The number of bombings and suicide attacks in Afghanistan has fallen since the Taliban ended its insurgency after toppling a US-backed government and returning to power in August 2021.
However, a number of armed groups remain a threat, including the Islamic State group, with regular reports of explosions that have not been confirmed by authorities.
