KABUL (AFP) – The Taleban governor of Afghanistan’s Balkh province, known for fighting against Islamic State (IS) extremists, was killed in an attack at his office yesterday, officials said.
The killing, a day after he met top government officials visiting from Kabul, makes Mohammad Dawood Muzammil one of the highest-ranking officials to have been slain since the Taleban stormed back to power in 2021.
Violence across Afghanistan has dramatically dropped since the Taleban seized control, but the security situation has again deteriorated with IS claiming several deadly attacks.
“Two people, including the governor of Balkh Mohammad Dawood Muzammil have been killed in an explosion this morning,” the province’s police spokesman Asif Waziri told AFP, adding that the blast happened on the second floor of his office.
He was “martyred in an explosion by the enemies of Islam”, tweeted government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
Muzammil was initially appointed governor of the eastern province of Nangarhar, where he led the fight against IS extremists, before being moved to Balkh province last year.
