Islamic State-Khorasan, an offshoot of the Islamic State militant group, has claimed a suicide attack that killed six people and wounded 12 others on March 27 near the Foreign Ministry in the Afghan capital of Kabul.
After the Taliban's return to power in 2021, Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) has emerged as the Taliban's main rival in the war-wracked country.
Ahead of the March 27 attack, security forces spotted the bomber and shot at him but could not prevent him from reaching a checkpoint in Malik Asghar Square, where he detonated his explosive vest, according to Khalid Zadran, a spokesman for the Taliban's security command in Kabul.
A Kabul hospital run by EMERGENCY, an Italian NGO, said on Twitter that it had admitted 12 wounded patients, including a child, as well as two people who were dead on arrival.
IS-K later claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in a statement on Amaq, the militant group's news arm.
The attack took place a day after the Taliban claimed it had killed three key Islamic State militants during a raid in Mazar-e Sharif, the capital of northern Balkh Province.
Islamic State has staged several attacks in Afghanistan recently.
On January 11, an IS suicide bomber killed at least 10 people when he blew himself up near the Foreign Ministry, not far from the site of the March 27 attack.
IS also claimed a bombing near a checkpoint at the Kabul military airport on January 1 that killed up to 20 people and an attack in December on a Kabul hotel frequented by businesspeople. At least five Chinese nationals were wounded in the December attack on the hotel.
In September, two Russian Embassy employees were killed in an IS suicide attack outside Moscow's mission in Kabul.
The Taliban has responded to the attacks by stepping up raids on suspected IS hideouts.
Last month, Taliban security forces said they had killed two senior IS members -- Qari Fateh, the regional IS intelligence and operations chief, and another senior leader, Ijaz Amin Ahingar, in two separate raids in Kabul.