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ISIS Claims Responsibility for Deadly Explosion in Afghanistan

Afghan athletes and police personnel inspect the Mellat boxing club, a day after an explosion took place at the site in the Dashti Barchi neighborhood of Kabul on October 27, 2023. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP)
Afghan athletes and police personnel inspect the Mellat boxing club, a day after an explosion took place at the site in the Dashti Barchi neighborhood of Kabul on October 27, 2023. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP)
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ISIS Claims Responsibility for Deadly Explosion in Afghanistan

Afghan athletes and police personnel inspect the Mellat boxing club, a day after an explosion took place at the site in the Dashti Barchi neighborhood of Kabul on October 27, 2023. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP)
Afghan athletes and police personnel inspect the Mellat boxing club, a day after an explosion took place at the site in the Dashti Barchi neighborhood of Kabul on October 27, 2023. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP)

ISIS claimed responsibility for an explosion in a Shiite neighborhood in Afghanistan’s capital that killed at least four people.
Seven others were critically wounded in the attack Thursday evening, according to Khalid Zadran, a spokesman for the Kabul police chief.
ISIS affiliates claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement late Friday through its news agency Aamaq, saying it “managed to leave a booby-trapped suitcase" inside a gathering place that exploded, killing and wounding about 35 people and inflicting heavy damage on a sports club.
Video taken after the explosion shows part of a building with its windows blown out and a fire inside. Shattered glass and other debris are strewn across the street below.
The scale of the damage was clearer Friday morning. There were craters in the ground and most of the interior was gutted, The Associated Press reported. Workers picked their way through boxing gloves and gym equipment on the blood-splattered floor.
The Dashti Barchi area of Kabul has been repeatedly targeted by the ISIS affiliate in the country, which has carried out major assaults on schools, hospitals and mosques.

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Taiwan Reports Chinese Balloon, First Time in Six Months

A woman holds flags amid celebrations of the 130th foundation anniversary of Taiwan's largest opposition party Kuomintang (KMT), in Taoyuan, Taiwan November 24, 2024. (Reuters)
A woman holds flags amid celebrations of the 130th foundation anniversary of Taiwan's largest opposition party Kuomintang (KMT), in Taoyuan, Taiwan November 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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Taiwan Reports Chinese Balloon, First Time in Six Months

A woman holds flags amid celebrations of the 130th foundation anniversary of Taiwan's largest opposition party Kuomintang (KMT), in Taoyuan, Taiwan November 24, 2024. (Reuters)
A woman holds flags amid celebrations of the 130th foundation anniversary of Taiwan's largest opposition party Kuomintang (KMT), in Taoyuan, Taiwan November 24, 2024. (Reuters)

Taiwan's defense ministry on Monday reported that a Chinese balloon had been detected over the sea to Taiwan's north, the first time since April it has reported such an incident in what Taipei views as part of a pattern of harassment by Beijing.

Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, complained that in the weeks leading up to its presidential election in January Chinese balloon activity took place at an "unprecedented scale".

It described the incidents as part of a Chinese pressure campaign - so-called grey-zone warfare designed to exhaust a foe using irregular tactics without open combat.

Taiwan strongly objects to China’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide their future.

The ministry, in its regular morning update on Chinese military activities over the previous 24 hours, said the single balloon was detected at 6:21 p.m. (1021 GMT) on Sunday 60 nautical miles (111 km) to the north of Taiwan's Keelung port.

It then vanished some two hours later, having flown at an altitude of 33,000 ft (10,000 meters), but without crossing Taiwan itself, the ministry said.

China's defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

China has previously dismissed Taiwan's complaints about the balloons, saying they were for meteorological purposes and should not be hyped up for political reasons.

The potential for China to use balloons for spying became a global issue last year when the United States shot down what it said was a Chinese surveillance balloon. China said the balloon was a civilian craft that accidentally drifted astray.