Taliban governor of Balkh killed in suicide attack

The Taliban governor of Balkh province of Afghanistan, known for fighting Islamic State IS jihadists, was killed in a suicide attack at his office on Thursday, officials said.

The killing, a day after he met top Kabul officials, makes Mohammad Dawood Muzammil one of the highest-ranking figures killed since the Taliban stormed back to power in 2021, according to Mohammad Dawood Muzammil.

Violence in Afghanistan has dropped since the Taliban seized control, but the security situation has deteriorated with IS claiming several deadly attacks.

A local police spokesperson, Asif Waziri, said that two people, including Mohammad Dawood Muzammil, the governor of Balkh, had been killed in an explosion on the second floor of his office, in the provincial capital Mazar-i- Sharif. He said that two people had been wounded and that we don't have any information as to how the suicide bomber reached the office of the governor.

An AFP correspondent reported from near the blast site that authorities had deployed extra security at the governorate, which forbade journalists from taking photos.

A government spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, tweeted that Muzammil was martyred in an explosion by the enemies of Islam.

Muzammil was initially appointed governor of the eastern province of Nangarhar, where he led the fight against IS jihadists before moving to Balkh last year.

He met two deputy prime ministers and other senior officials in Balkh on Wednesday to review a large irrigation project in northern Afghanistan, a government statement said.

IS has emerged as the Taliban government's biggest security challenge and has attacked Afghan civilians as well as foreigners and foreign interests since the beginning of last year.

There were several attacks in Balkh last year, including in Mazar-i Sharif, claimed by IS.

In January, at least 10 people were killed by a suicide bomber near the foreign ministry in Kabul, an attack IS claimed.

IS and the Taliban share an austere Sunni Islamist ideology, but IS is trying to establish a global caliphate, while the Taliban has the more inward-looking goal of ruling an independent Afghanistan.

In December, at least five Chinese nationals were wounded when gunmen stormed a hotel popular with businesspeople in Kabul. That raid was claimed by IS as was an attack on Pakistan's embassy in Kabul that month that Islamabad denounced as an assassination attempt against its ambassador.

Two Russian embassy staff were killed in a suicide bombing outside their mission in September, another attack claimed by IS.