Afghanistan: Explosion near Foreign Ministry kills 5

A blast near the Afghan Foreign Ministry in Kabul on Wednesday left at least five people dead and several injured, according to the ruling Taliban. 

What do we know so far?

Kabul police spokesperson Khalid Zadran said the blast "unfortunately resulted in casualties." He did not give an exact number of the injured.

Some Taliban officials and witnesses say the death toll was higher. 

Ustad Fareedun of the Taliban-managed Information Ministry said 20 people were killed, adding that the assailant sought to penetrate the Afghan Foreign Ministry building itself.

Jamshed Karimi, a driver in the area who witnessed the bombing, told the AFP news agency he saw 20 to 25 casualties.

"He passed by my car and after a few seconds there was a loud blast," Karimi said, describing the perpetrator. "I saw the man blowing himself up."

The Taliban blocked journalists from accessing the blast site. 

Taliban Deputy Minister of Information and Culture Muhajer Farahi told the AFP news agency that the explosion occurred shortly before a Chinese delegation was scheduled to visit.  

Afghanistan faces security quagmire

It's still unclear who perpetrated the attack. The so-called "Islamic State" (IS) has ramped up its operations in Afghanistan in recent months — a challenge to the Taliban's authority.  

Most recently, IS claimed an attack on a checkpoint near Kabul's military airport this month.  The group also launched a deadly assault on the Kabul Longan hotel in December, injuring five Chinese nationals.

In retaliation, the Taliban recently said it made several raids on IS holdouts. The Taliban claimed 8 members of IS were killed in the operations, including those behind the attack on the Kabul Longan hotel. 

The Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, rapidly seizing the capital after the US-led NATO withdrawal from the country.

The Taliban's ensuing crackdown on human rights, particularly on women, has drawn wide condemnation from the international community, such as Germany.    

No country has recognized the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, though China, Russia, Iran and others have made limited overtures to it.