Afghan acting minister among 4 killed in suicide attack in Kabul

KABUL, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's Acting Minister for Refugees and Repatriation Khalil Rahman Haqqani was killed in a suicide attack inside the ministry on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior said.

"We have received with great sadness the news that the minister of refugees, Khalil Rahman Haqqani, was martyred this afternoon in a ferocious attack by the Khawarij (enemy)," said a statement released by Mufti Abdul Mateen Qani.

"Haqqani was a member of a great jihadi family. The enemies of Islam had set a 5-million-U.S. dollar bounty for his elimination," the statement added.

Four people, including the acting minister, were killed, and four others, including Haqqani's guards, were critically injured following the attack, an official from the Ministry of Interior told Xinhua.

Security personnel have sealed off all roads to the ministry, and stringent regulations are currently enforced within the vicinity.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.■