An explosion at a city hotel in Afghanistan's Khost province on Monday claimed the lives of three people and wounded seven others, said police. The hotel is said to be frequented by Afghan people and Pakistani refugees coming from the militant stronghold of North Waziristan
According to Mustaghfir Gurbaz, a police spokesperson in the Khost province, officers are still determining the cause of the blast and the persons responsible for the incident. Gurbaz has not provided any information about Pakistani refugees staying in the hotel.
No group has yet claimed responsibility behind the blast, although the Taliban government in Afghanistan has blamed the regional affiliate of the Islamic State (ISIS) group for previous attacks. The group is commonly known as Islamic State in Khorasan Province.
Meanwhile, Pakistani authorities have said that members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are hiding in Khost and other areas of the Afghan territory. TTP is a separate group and a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who have found sanctuarities in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover in 2021.
According to the Pakistani government, the "Afghani terror" organisations were responsible for the increase in terror activities especially in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as it shares an international border with Afghanistan.
Recently, a commander of the TTP Sarbakaf Mohmand, claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) workers' convention in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district earlier this month that killed 54 people. It is one of the deadliest attacks on security forces in recent months.
The Taliban have repeatedly said they will not allow anyone, including the TTP, to use Afghan soil for attacks against any country, including Pakistan. But Pakistani officials say there is a disconnect between the words and actions of the Afghan Taliban, who could stop the TTP from launching attacks inside the country but are failing to do so.
TTP’s operations have largely been aimed at targeting Pakistani forces, similar to the Afghan Taliban’s agenda of ousting foreign forces from the country. The TTP seeks stricter enforcement of Islamic laws, the release of its members in government custody, and a reduction in Pakistani military presence in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the province bordering Afghanistan that it has long used as a base.
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