[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Local media and foreign news agencies reported on the 5th that the leader of the extremist militant group Islamic State (IS) in Afghanistan was arrested by Afghan authorities.
The Afghan intelligence agency announced that it captured Aslam Faruki (also known as Abdullah Aurokzai), the leader of IS's Afghan branch, along with 19 IS members the previous day.
Faruki is known to have led the Sikh temple attack that occurred on the 25th of last month in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. The attack resulted in more than 25 deaths due to a bomb explosion and gunfire by assailants.
The intelligence agency stated, "Faruki has been the leader of IS's Afghan branch since the death of Abu Saeed Bajauri in 2018," adding, "He operated not only in Afghanistan but also in parts of Pakistan." However, the agency did not disclose when or how Faruki was arrested.
IS, which made a full-scale entry into Afghanistan from 2014 to 2015, has been active locally through its Khorasan branch. Khorasan, meaning 'the land of the rising sun' in Persian, refers to a region encompassing parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.
The Sunni Islamic IS has often clashed with the Taliban because it does not consider Shiites as apostates to be eliminated. In particular, IS has asserted its presence by carrying out various terrorist attacks in recent years, taking advantage of the Taliban's peace negotiations with the United States.
In August 2019, IS carried out a suicide bombing at a wedding hall in western Kabul, killing 63 people. On the 9th of last month, it also launched a rocket attack near the inauguration ceremony of President Ashraf Ghani.
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