Taliban official killed in Badakhshan blast ahead of takeover anniversary

WEB DESK: A senior Taliban official has been killed in an explosion in Afghanistan’s northeastern Badakhshan province, marking the second deadly attack on a high-ranking member of the provincial administration in two weeks.

According to Washington Post, mayor of Badakhshan Habib Ur Rahman Mansoor was killed late Thursday when an explosion struck his vehicle in the provincial capital, Faizabad, according to Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry. Authorities did not immediately release further details about the blast.

A senior official confirmed Mansoor’s death on Friday, days before the Taliban mark five years since returning to power on August 15, 2021, following the withdrawal of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan.

The latest killing comes around two weeks after Zabihullah Amiri, Badakhshan’s director of information and culture, was shot dead while travelling towards Faizabad from a nearby district. Security personnel accompanying Amiri returned fire, killing one attacker and detaining another.

Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive for either attack.

While assassinations of senior Taliban officials have remained relatively uncommon since the group returned to power, several prominent members of the administration have been targeted in recent years.

In December 2024, Refugee Minister Khalil Haqqani was killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul. Haqqani was the uncle of Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani and a senior figure within the influential Haqqani network.

Badakhshan has also witnessed previous attacks against Taliban officials. In June 2023, a car bomb in Faizabad killed provincial deputy governor Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi and his driver. Islamic State Khorasan Province later claimed responsibility for that attack, as well as a subsequent suicide bombing at a memorial gathering for Ahmadi that left at least 13 people dead.

Earlier that year, the Taliban-appointed governor of Balkh province was killed in a bomb attack inside the governor’s office.