“Fortunately, this attack was repelled by soldiers,” he said, adding that they were backed by Burkina Faso volunteer civilian fighters

On Twitter, Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised the British police emergency services for their work on the incident so far

Since the Taliban returned to power on 15 August, dozens of bombs have been set off in eastern Nangarhar province – a hotbed of IS activity

The attack comes a day after the Islamic State group killed 13 soldiers loyal to the Syrian government in an ambush

“With the Taliban now seemingly implementing some moderate reforms… there is a high probability (IS-K) will try to capitalise.”

Despite the presence of thousands of French and UN troops, the conflict has engulfed central Mali and spread to Burkina Faso and Niger

The death toll has gone up to 72 since the start of the unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, while 1 234 arrests have been made.