The United States on Monday imposed sanctions on three leaders of Islamic State�s Afghanistan branch (ISIS-K/Daesh) and another man it accused of acting as a financial facilitator for the group, in a move that follows a series of attacks in Kabul claimed by the militant group.

The State Department on Monday named the group�s emir, Sanaullah Ghafari, spokesperson Sultan Aziz Azam and Kabul province leader Maulaw Rajab as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

The U.S. Treasury Department also blacklisted Ismatullah Khalozai, accusing him of operating a Turkey-based informal money-moving network, known as a hawala, to transfer funds to finance the Islamic State-Khorasan Province.

Today�s designation underscores the United States� determination to prevent ISIS-K and its members from exploiting the international financial system to support terrorist acts in Afghanistan and beyond, said Andrea Gacki, director of the Treasury�s Office of Foreign Assets Control, Reuters reported.

The U.N. envoy to Afghanistan last week delivered a bleak assessment of the situation following the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan�s (IEA) takeover, saying that the ISIS-K group has grown and now appears present in nearly all 34 provinces.

ISIS claimed responsibility for two explosions that hit a heavily Shi�ite Muslim area of Kabul last week, killing at least one person and wounding at least six others.

The blasts were the latest in a series of attacks in Kabul claimed by the militant Sunni group in recent days, with Shi�ite areas in the west of the city targeted several times. The group has also launched attacks on Shi�ite mosques in the northern city of Kunduz and the southern city of Kandahar.

The attacks have added pressure on the IEA government, which is grappling with a deepening economic crisis, and dented its assertion that it has restored security to Afghanistan after decades of war.