Afghanistan’s acting minister for refugees has been killed in an explosion in the capital, Kabul, the Taliban has said.

Khalil Ur-Rahman Haqqani was killed on Wednesday in the blast that also claimed the lives of five others, local media reported.

Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed the killing in what he deplored as “a cowardly attack” carried out by the ISIS group.

Interior Ministry officials told The Associated Press news agency the explosion was caused by a suicide bombing. A government source, who asked to remain anonymous, told the AFP news agency that the explosion happened at the Ministry of Refugees in Kabul.

The DPA news agency later reported that ISIS had claimed responsibility for the attack, and which involved a bomber blowing “himself up on the ministry grounds”.

Haqqani became a minister in the Taliban’s interim government after foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021.

He was a senior leader of the powerful Haqqani Network, responsible for a number of violent attacks during the Taliban’s two-decade armed campaign, according to the US State Department.

Haqqani, who was handling the incoming refugee crisis in Afghanistan, was also the uncle of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the current interior minister.