The Taliban governor of Balkh province in northern Afghanistan, died this Thursday in his offices in a suicide attackreported police sources.
“Two people, including Mohammad Dawood Muzammil, the governor of Balkh, were killed in an explosion this morning, Asif Waziri, a police spokesman for the region, told the AFP news agency.
“This is a suicide attack. We have no information about how the terrorist got to the office of the governor,” he added.
The Afghan branch of the Islamic Army
The Islamic Army emerged in Iraq in the late 1990s and gained world fame in 2014 when it conquered vast territories in Syria and Iraq in which it formed a “caliphate” until it was defeated by foreign powers and the forces of both countries, in 2019.
Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), the Afghan branch of the group, considers the Taliban traitors to the orthodoxy of “sharia” or Islamic law and defends a much harsher interpretation.
IS has been the Taliban government’s biggest security threat, with attacks against foreigners, religious minorities and government institutions.
Both groups share strict Sunni Islamist ideology, but IS is striving to establish a global “caliphate” while the Taliban have local aspirations to rule an independent Afghanistan.
Muzammil is one of the highest-level Taliban officials killed in such circumstances since the group returned to power in August 2021.
Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed that “enemies of Islam” killed the governor. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The attack occurred the day after a meeting Muzammil held with senior government officials in Balkh province. to discuss a major irrigation project in northern Afghanistanaccording to a government statement.
Security forces were deployed at the site of the explosion, the French news agency reported.
Before being posted to Balkh last year, Muzammil was in charge of Nangarhar province in the east, where led the fight against the jihadists of the Islamic State (NO).
More attacks in the last year
After the return of the Taliban to power in August 2021, extremist attacks in Afghanistan have been significantly reduced.
In the past year, however, violence has been on the rise, with a series of deadly attacks claimed by the local affiliate of the radical Sunni Islamic State group.
ISIL claimed responsibility for a December shooting attack on a Kabul hotel, where five Chinese were injured.
Taliban
the taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021as US and NATO forces were abruptly and haphazardly withdrawn from the country after a 20-year war against them.
In the same month, the group attacked the Pakistani embassy in Kabul, an action that Islamabad described as an “assassination attempt” against its ambassador.
The Pakistani diplomat, who was walking on the grass inside the embassy compound at the time of the attack, was unharmed, but one of his guards was wounded.
Before, in September 2022, were singled out for a suicide attack in Kabul which left 54 dead, including 51 women and girls.