Gunmen on a motorcycle killed a senior Taliban provincial official in northeastern Afghanistan on Tuesday in one of the rarest targeted assassinations of a high-ranking Taliban figure since the group seized power four years ago.
Zabihullah Amiri, the Taliban’s director of information and culture for Badakhshan province, was shot dead while traveling from Baharak toward his office in the provincial capital Faizabad on the Baharak-Faizabad road, Taliban police confirmed.
What We Know So Far
Two attackers on a motorcycle opened fire on Amiri’s vehicle in the Kol Dasht area near Baharak city, Taliban police spokesman Ehsanullah Kamgar confirmed to Pajhwok Afghan News.
Amiri’s bodyguards returned fire immediately. One attacker was killed and the second was captured, Kamgar said. Amiri’s driver was also wounded in the attack, Afghanistan International confirmed, citing sources.
Amiri’s body was transferred to Baharak clinic. Taliban forces surrounded the area following the assault.
No individual or group immediately claimed responsibility for the killing. The Taliban’s Information Ministry said in a statement that authorities were investigating.
The attack comes amid a period of increased military activity by anti-Taliban groups in Badakhshan, particularly the Afghanistan Freedom Front, which has recently claimed advances in Zebak district, the downing of Taliban drones, and the capture of Taliban posts in the province.
Rare But Not Unprecedented
Targeted killings of high-ranking Taliban officials have been uncommon since the group took control of Afghanistan following the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces in 2021, the Associated Press confirmed.
The most recent high-profile killing occurred in December 2024, when refugee minister Khalil Haqqani was killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul. Haqqani was the uncle of Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who leads one of the most powerful factions within the Taliban movement.
In June 2023, a car bomb in Faizabad killed Badakhshan’s deputy governor and his driver. The Islamic State in Khorasan Province, a regional affiliate of the global extremist group, claimed that attack. A suicide bombing at a memorial service for the deputy governor days later killed at least 13 more people.
In March 2023, the governor of northern Balkh province was killed in a bomb attack on the governor’s office.
What Authorities Are Saying
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid separately addressed reports of recent armed opposition activity in Badakhshan on Monday, dismissing accounts of fighting in Zebak district and claims that Yaftal district had fallen as “media propaganda.”
“The country was liberated through sacrifices and the loss of lives,” Mujahid said. “The Taliban would make twice as many sacrifices to defend it.”
The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan said its forces attacked a Taliban post in Kuran Wa Munjan district of Badakhshan on Sunday night, killing one Taliban fighter and wounding two others. Local sources confirmed the attack to Afghanistan International. Taliban local officials had not commented on those casualties.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front had also claimed advances in Zebak district in recent days. The Taliban said it repelled those attacks.
Why This Matters
Tuesday’s killing is significant precisely because it is rare. The Taliban has maintained a degree of internal security since 2021 that has kept targeted killings of officials at a level far below what occurred during the years of armed conflict preceding their takeover.
The concentration of recent incidents in Badakhshan is notable. The province borders Tajikistan and has historically been a site of resistance activity. The combination of the assassination, the National Resistance Front’s claimed attack on Sunday, and the ongoing Afghanistan Freedom Front operations in Zebak district suggests a possible coordinated increase in opposition activity in the northeast rather than isolated incidents.
The Islamic State in Khorasan Province remains active in Afghanistan and has previously claimed responsibility for attacks targeting Taliban officials in Badakhshan. Whether Tuesday’s killing is connected to that group, to one of the armed resistance fronts, or to a different actor will depend on the investigation Taliban authorities said was underway.
What Happens Next
Taliban security forces had surrounded the area and arrested one of the two attackers as of Tuesday. An investigation into the killing was underway, the Information Ministry confirmed.
No trial or prosecution details were immediately available. The arrested attacker’s identity and any claimed affiliation had not been disclosed publicly as of the time of reporting.
The killing will almost certainly prompt the Taliban to increase security for provincial officials across Badakhshan and possibly in other northern and northeastern provinces where armed opposition activity has been reported in recent weeks.
Sources: AP; ifintl.com; tolonews;amutv;
