Three people were killed in a shootout with security forces on Thursday in Kabul near the site of the All-Afghan Council of Elders (Loya Jirga). This was reported by the Al Jazeera Qatari television channel.
According to a representative of the Kabul security service, during the armed clash "two attackers and one civilian were killed."
Earlier, Afghan media reported an explosion and subsequent gunfight near the Kabul Polytechnic University, near where the Loya Jirga is being held.
According to the Aamaj News agency, the National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan which opposes the radical Taliban movement that came to power in the country (banned in the Russian Federation), stated that "a special group of the NSF attacked a meeting of elders in Kabul".
However, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote in his Twitter that "there were no problems with the security of [the participants of the] Loya Jirga. He added that "security forces fired several shots in a suspicious location, which should not cause concern."
Loya Jirga meetings started in the Afghan capital on Thursday. The assembly is attended by representatives of the Taliban government as well as some 3,500 Islamic theologians (ulema) and tribal elders from across the country. The last time the Loya Jirga convened in Afghanistan was in August 2020, a year before the Taliban came to power in Kabul.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: ResoluteSupportMedia/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS