The Taliban’s refugee minister was killed in a suicide bombing in the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday, December 11, the interior ministry said.
Khalil Haqqani is the uncle of current Taliban Interior Minister Sarajuddin Haqqani, who leads the powerful Haqqani network in Afghanistan.
The Haqqani network has carried out a string of major attacks during the country’s war and tensions have emerged between them and the Taliban.
In 2011, the United States classified Khalil Haqqani as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, offering a reward of up to $5 million for information related to him. He is also on the United Nations Security Council’s 1988 Sanctions List.
On Wednesday, a suicide bomber disguised himself as a visitor to the Ministry of Refugees compound, detonating his bomb as Haqqani was signing paperwork, a ministry spokesperson revealed
Haqqani is the most high-profile casualty of the bombing in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power three years ago.