Afghan refugee minister killed in Kabul blast: Reports 

Afghanistan’s acting minister for refugees has been killed in an explosion in the capital, Kabul, the Taliban has said.

Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani was killed on Wednesday in the blast that also claimed the lives of five others, local media reported.

A Taliban spokesman confirmed the killing, the Reuters news agency reported. Interior Ministry officials told The Associated Press news agency the explosion was caused by a suicide bombing. A government source, who asked to remain anonymous, told the AFP news agency that the explosion happened at the Ministry of Refugees in Kabul.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.

Haqqani became a minister in the Taliban’s interim government after foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021.

He was a senior leader of the powerful Haqqani Network, responsible for a number of violent attacks during the Taliban’s two-decade armed campaign, according to the US State Department.

Haqqani, who was handling the incoming refugee crisis in Afghanistan, was also the uncle of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the current interior minister.