A relatively unknown militant group, the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), has said it was behind the twin blasts at the Kabul airport that killed over 100 and injured more than 150 people at the Kabul airport in conflict-ridden Afghanistan on Thursday.

In a statement of claim on Friday, the group claimed responsibility for the bombings and vowed to continue carrying out similar attacks till the United States and its allies leave the Asian country.

Investigations into the groups’ activities has revealed that it is one of the most extreme and violent of all the jihadist militant groups in Afghanistan, though it has been operating in the shadows of the more known Taliban terrorist group.

According to a BBC report, the IS-K is a regional affiliate of the group calling itself Islamic State and is active in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The group has been blamed for some of the worst atrocities in recent years, targeting girls’ schools, hospitals, and even a maternity ward of pregnant women, infants, and nurses were shot dead.

They are said to be part of the global IS Network that seeks to carry out attacks on western, international and humanitarian targets wherever they can reach them, with links to the Taliban through a third party, the Haqqani Network.

But they have major differences with the Taliban, accusing them of abandoning Jihad and the battlefield in favour of a negotiated peace settlement, and now represent a major security challenge for the incoming Taliban government.