Three policemen were killed in northeastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the interior ministry said, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State in Khorasan (ISIS), some twenty-four hours after bloody incidents involving Taliban forces and poppy farmers.

In the morning, a bomb “placed on a motorcycle exploded (…) in the city of Faizabad”, the capital of Badakhshan province, the interior ministry spokesman said via X.

“The device exploded as a police convoy was moving to destroy poppy crops. Three policemen were killed and (another) five were injured,” Abdul Mateen Kani added.

IKKH, the IS arm in Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said was aimed at the Taliban and was carried out on a motorcycle rigged with explosives.

On the ground, an AFP reporter saw Taliban arresting dozens of people near the scene of the attack and driving them into vehicles, as well as searching homes.

Aminullah, an eyewitness who declined to give his last name, told AFP that he heard a loud explosion and saw a Taliban convoy being targeted by gunmen.

“Security forces immediately denied access to the attack zone,” he added.

Photos uploaded to social media sites show the charred motorcycle carcass and bullet-riddled army vehicle.

Late last week, incidents broke out that left two people dead in Badakhshan province; the victims were farmers who resisted Taliban drug squads who went there to enforce the eradication of poppy crops, the raw material in the process of making opium and heroin.

The crops were outlawed in 2022.

Villagers told AFP that members of the Taliban stormed their homes, breaking down doors and opening fire on anyone who resisted.

Dozens of men demonstrated chanting “death to the Emirate”, referring to the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the official name of the Taliban regime.

The regime sent a high-level delegation to the area, then assured that calm had been restored.

“The problems that arose in the campaign to eradicate poppy crops in Badakhshan have been resolved,” de facto government spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid assured via X.

Afghanistan has seen frequent bloody attacks by IS, mainly targeting regime forces and the Hazara Shiite minority, which have claimed hundreds of lives since the Taliban seized power in the country in August 2021.