Five members of the Afghan security forces were killed in an attack on a United Nations convoy in Kabul province on Thursday, according to an announcement by the UN.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said no personnel were injured in the attack which took place in Surobi, near the Afghan capital, on the road connecting Kabul with Jalalabad.

“The UN family in Afghanistan mourns the loss of five Afghan Directorate of Protection Service personnel in an incident today in Surobi District of Kabul,” the Twitter post (@UNAMAnews) wrote, referring to a unit of the Afghan Ministry of Interior guarding UN personnel, foreign embassies and important individuals.

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“No UN personnel were hurt and no vehicle was affected in the attack which hit a DPS vehicle that was escorting a UN convoy,” the tweet post said.

It is not clear who was behind this attack or whether the target was the UN or the security forces. Both Islamist Taliban insurgents and Islamic State jihadists are active in the country. The Interior Ministry estimates that the action was carried out by the Taliban, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity. However, a spokesman for the Islamist insurgents said they had nothing to do with the attack.

Violence has escalated in Afghanistan in recent months, despite peace talks being held in Qatar since September 2020 between the Taliban and the Afghan government. No substantial progress has been made so far in the negotiations and Islamist insurgents continue to launch daily attacks on government forces, especially in the province. But violence has also reignited in the capital Kabul where targeted killings of journalists, human rights defenders, judges and politicians are becoming more frequent. Yesterday, unknown individuals shot and wounded a journalist of the Pajhwok news agency in Faryab province (north).

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