Several IS militants killed near Afghanistan’s Kabul

KABUL: Several Islamic State (IS) militants were killed and one arrested in a security forces operation near the Afghan capital of Kabul on Wednesday evening, Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran said on Twitter Thursday.

Zadran also confirmed the death of two security force members including a policewoman and the injury of four others during the clearing operation in Karta-e-Sakhi, a vicinity west of the Afghan capital.

Late on Wednesday, Zadran said that security forces surrounded a house from which they came under gunfire from unknown attackers in the Karta-e-Sakhi area.

Taliban-led caretaker government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid twitted on Thursday that four attackers had been eliminated during the operation and gunfire.

Mujahid said the militants had planned to target thousands of Shiite Muslims who gathered to mark Muharram, one of their largest religious ceremonies, in Karta-e-Sakhi Shrine, west of the capital.

A video, likely taken by security force members and posted on social media, showed that one of them threw a yellow barrel packed with explosives through a hole they dug into the house, where the attackers were launching gunfire.                                                                                    (Xinhua)