A Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up after joining a queue to enter a police office in Kabul on the 1 Feb 16 killing 20 people and injuring at least 29. The Afghan capital was hit by a series of suicide attacks last month as the Taliban stepped up their campaign against the Western-backed government. They coincided with renewed efforts to revive a peace process with the insurgent movement that stalled last year. In a separate statement, the NATO mission condemned the attack, which it said killed 20 police officers and injured 25 others as well as seven Afghan civilians. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement that said 40 police officers had been killed or wounded. The group often makes exaggerated casualty claims for its attacks.
Russia – Russia has detained seven alleged members of the Islamic State group who wanted to stage terror attacks in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, authorities said on the 8 Feb 16. The group was held on the 7 Feb 16 in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg and included Russians and Central Asian nationals, while its leader came from Turkey, the FSB security service said in a statement.