By Staff, Agencies The Afghan minister for refugees has been killed in an explosion at the ministry's offices in the capital Kabul. Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani, the Taliban's acting minister for refugees, “has been martyred along with some of his colleagues," a government official told AFP on Wednesday, requesting not to be named.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the blast.

Khalil Haqqani became a minister in the Taliban's interim government after US-led forces withdrew from the country in 2021.

Haqqani was handling the incoming refugee crisis in Afghanistan.

He was also the uncle of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the current interior minister.

A senior official at the Ministry of Interior told CBS News that Haqqani was killed in a "suicide attack" along with at least four of his associates.

The Taliban's chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, later confirmed Haqqani's death in the attack and blamed the Wahhabi Daesh [Arabic acronym for “ISIS” / “ISIL”] branch in Afghanistan.

Since their return to power, several senior Taliban leaders have been killed, including provincial governors, commanders and religious clerics, mostly in attacks claimed by Daesh terrorists