ISIS-affiliated Islamic extremist group Khorasan has claimed responsibility of the rockets fired at Uzbekistan. This is the first attack of this kind from Afghanistan on an East Asian country. ISIS Khorasan said in a statement that it had fired ten rockets targeting a military base in the Uzbek town of Tirmuz. The area is located near the Afghan border. Uzbek authorities did not immediately respond to ISIS’s claim.
According to reports, the attacks on Uzbekistan were carried out from Hairatan area in the northern Afghan province of Balkh. The group has also released photos and video of rocket missiles as proof of its claim. The ISIS Khurasan group has stepped up its attacks across the country since the withdrawal of the US-led foreign military alliance from Afghanistan in August last year. The group has also carried out a number of attacks in neighboring Pakistan. The latest attack took place last month in the form of a suicide attack on a Shia mosque in Peshawar. In this attack 60 Shia worshipers were killed and injured several others. Pak officials said the suicide bomber was an Afghan refugee allegedly trained in Afghanistan.