KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) 鈥� Gunmen killed a high-ranking local Taliban official in Afghanistan鈥檚 northwestern province of Badakhshan on Tuesday in a rare targeted killing in the country.
Two gunmen shot Zabihullah Amiri, Badakhshan鈥檚 director of information and culture, as he headed from a local district to the provincial capital Faizabad, the Information Ministry said in a statement.
鈥淚mmediately following the incident, security guards opened fire on the attackers; one attacker was killed and the second was captured,鈥� the ministry said, adding that authorities were investigating the killing.
Targeted killings of high-ranking Taliban officials have been rare since the in Afghanistan in 2021 in the wake of the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.
In December 2024, the country鈥檚 refugee minister, Khalil Haqqani, was in the capital Kabul. Haqqani was the uncle of Interior Minister , who leads a powerful network within the Taliban.
In June 2023, a killed Badakhshan鈥檚 deputy governor, Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi, as well as his driver. A regional affiliate of the Islamic State group, known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province, claimed responsibility for the attack, as well as that struck a memorial service for the deputy governor days later, killing at least 13 people.
In March 2023, the governor of the northern province of Balkh was on the governor鈥檚 office.
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