More than 25 Taliban killed: IS claims attacks in Jalalabad

The extremist Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a series of deadly bombings targeting Taliban vehicles in eastern Afghanistan. he claim, published late Sunday on the militant group's media arm, the Aamaq news agency, signals a growing threat to the Taliban by their long-time rivals. Amaaq News Agency said that “three separate bomb attacks" targeting three "Taliban vehicles" in Jalalabad on Saturday, and another "bomb attack" Sunday on "a Taliban vehicle". "More than 35 Taliban militia members were killed or wounded, in a series of explosions that took place," it said.

Witnesses told local media that several wounded Taliban fighters were taken to hospital after the explosion, which one journalist said happened near an interchange for transport to and from Kabul. The Taliban have not commented about the death toll in the city. Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan, is the only province where the Taliban are being targeted by IS after they recaptured Afghanistan in August. Some districts of Nangarhar and Kunar provinces were the heartlands of IS during the previous Afghan government and the gourd ruled those districts for five years. They were finally driven out by Afghan forces, the people uprising and the Taliban.

The Taliban now face major economic and security challenges in trying to govern Afghanistan, and an accelerated campaign of IS attacks will further complicate those efforts. The Taliban and IS extremists were enemies before foreign troops left Afghanistan. Both groups subscribe to a harsh interpretation of Islam, but the Taliban have focused on taking control of Afghanistan, while IS affiliates in Afghanistan and elsewhere call for global jihad.