Drone Strike Targets Al-Qaeda Members In Ghazni, Says Former Afghan Intelligence Chief

Rahmatullah Nabil, the former head of the National Directorate of Security of Afghanistan, said that in a drone attack in Giru district of Ghazni province, members of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) were targeted.

He added that this attack was conducted from bases in Pakistan. Sources also informed Afghanistan International that 12 individuals lost their lives in this attack.

Afghanistan International received a letter indicating that the Taliban leader convened an emergency meeting to discuss the drone attack in the Giru district and its surveillance.

On March 25, the Taliban's governor's office in Ghazni province had reported that, following the explosion of a leftover shell from a Soviet attack in Zardan village of the Giru district, five women and four children were killed.

However, sources speaking to Afghanistan International rejected the Taliban’s statement and said that the incident resulted from a drone strike. The strike killed 12 individuals, including three employees of the Taliban’s Ministry of Mines, among them Matiullah Bakhtzoi's son, a member of the ministry's evaluation commission, two Taliban fighters, four women, and three children.

Following the publication of this news, Nabil posted on X social media platform, stating that the target of the attack were members of AQIS (Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent) group. According to him, AQIS is a branch of Al-Qaeda that aims to fight Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar, with the goal of establishing an “Islamic Caliphate”.